Systemic Corticosteroids for Treating Respiratory Diseases: Less Is Better, but… When and How Is It Possible in Real Life?

ABSTRACT: Systemic corticosteroids (CSs), a keystone in pulmonology, are drugs with strong antiinflammatory activity. They are cheap, easily available, and accessible, but with common and serious side effects. Moreover, the use of exogenous CSs may suppress the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, predisposing to adrenal insufficiency. Safe CS treatment is a challenge of pharmacological research. This narrative review examined the indications of CSs in some respiratory diseases, analyzing what types, dosages, and length of treatment are required as the dosage and duration of CS treatments need to be minimized. Chronic maintenance treatments with CSs are associated with poor prognosis, but they are still prescribed in patients with severe asthma, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an

SUBMITTER: Melani AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10447722 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature