Evaluation of the Clinical Impact of Corticosteroid Duration on SARS-CoV-2 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the clinical impact of the use of glucocorticoids beyond 10 days for patients with critical COVID-19 at MDMC.

Glucocorticoids have become standard of care for critical COVID-19 patients, with a mortality benefit shown in several recent randomized control trials. Critical COVID-19 can lead to ARDS, in which the use of glucocorticoids has uncertain benefit beyond 10 days. Studies have shown increased harm in the use of these agents in persistent ARDS (≥14 days). Additionally, studies supporting the use of steroids in COVID-19 only used steroids for a limited time (up to 10 days). Given that these agents can possibly lead to increased patient morbidity and mortality, prolonged use of glucocorticoids is not without risk. To date, there have been no studies evaluating the clinical impact of glucocorticoid use beyond 10 days for treatment of critical COVID-19.