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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Horm Metab Res 2021; 53(01): 9-15
DOI: 10.1055/a-1300-2550
Review

The Role of Glucocorticoids in the Management of COVID-19

Vasileia Ismini Alexaki
1   Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Clinic Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
,
Holger Henneicke
2   Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
3   Department of Medicine III & Center for Healthy Aging, University Clinic Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
› Author Affiliations Funding Information: This work was supported by funds from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB-TRR 205 to V.I.A. & HE 8391/1–1 to H.H.).
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Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by an infection with the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has resulted in a global pandemic and poses an emergency to public health systems worldwide. COVID-19 is highly infectious and is characterized by an acute respiratory illness that varies from mild flu-like symptoms to the life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). As such, there is an urgent need for the development of new therapeutic strategies, which combat the high mortality in severely ill COVID-19 patients. Glucocorticoids are a frontline treatment for a diverse range of inflammatory diseases. Due to their immunosuppressive functions, the use of glucocorticoids in the treatment of COVID-19 patients was initially regarded with caution. However, recent studies concluded that the initiation of systemic glucocorticoids in patients suffering from severe and critical COVID-19 is associated with lower mortality. Herein we review the anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids and discuss emerging issues in their clinical use in the context of COVID-19.

Key words

glucocorticoids inflammation COVID-19


Publication History

Received: 12 October 2020

Accepted after revision: 14 October 2020

Article published online:
18 November 2020

© 2020. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

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