Table 1 Characteristics of included studies
Study | Design | Study site | Patients | Regimen of corticosteroid | No. of patients | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Study | Control | |||||
Dequin et al. [17] | Double-blind, randomized, controlled trial | 31 centers in French | Adult patients with severe CAP requiring ICU admission | Hydrocortisone, 200 mg daily for either 4 or 8 days | 400 | 395 |
Meduri et al. [9] | Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial | 42 centers in US | Adult patients with severe CAP requiring ICU admission | Methylprednisolone 40 mg loading followed by 40 mg/day through day 7 and progressive tapering for 20 days | 297 | 287 |
Torres et al. [8] | Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial | 3 centers in Spain | Adult patients with severe CAP | Methylprednisolone 0.5 mg/kg q12h for 5 days | 61 | 59 |
Sabry et al. [7] | Double-blind, randomized, controlled trial | 2 centers in Egypt | Adult patients with severe CAP requiring ICU admission | Hydrocortisone, loading dose of 200 mg, followed by 300 mg daily for 7 days | 40 | 40 |
El-Ghamrawy et al. [10] | Double-blind, randomized, controlled trial | Saudi Arabia | Adult patients with severe CAP requiring ICU admission | Hydrocortisone, loading dose of 200 mg, followed by 240 mg daily for 7 days | 17 | 17 |
Confalonier et al. [6] | Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial | 6 centers in Italy | Adult patients with severe CAP requiring ICU admission | Hydrocortisone, 200-mg bolus followed by infusion at a rate of 10 mg/hour for 7 days | 23 | 23 |
Marik et al. [5] | Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial | 1 center in US | Adult patients with severe CAP requiring ICU admission | Hydrocortisone 10 mg/kg once | 14 | 16 |