Corticosteroid Therapy for Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Authors: Meenu Singh, Nishant Jaiswal
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2016)

Letters3 May 2016Corticosteroid Therapy for Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired PneumoniaMeenu Singh, MD and Nishant Jaiswal, MBBSMeenu Singh, MDFrom Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.Search for more papers by this author and Nishant Jaiswal, MBBSFrom Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L15-0582 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:We read Siemieniuk and colleagues' recent review and meta-analysis (1), which states that, in light of evidence with moderate to high certainty, systemic corticosteroids were helpful in adults with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). The effect estimates obtained were significant and precise. We disagree, however, with the methods chosen to draw the 95% CIs and the variation in interpreting the results of the analysis of the effect of systemic corticosteroids on the need for mechanical ventilation in patients hospitalized with CAP. The authors used Hartung–Knapp–Sidik–Jonkman (HKSJ) modification (2), which is the preferred approach when more than 5 studies are ...References1. Siemieniuk RA, Meade MO, Alonso-Coello P, Briel M, Evaniew N, Prasad M, et al. Corticosteroid therapy for patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2015;163:519-28. [PMID: 26258555]. doi:10.7326/M15-0715 LinkGoogle Scholar2. IntHout J, Ioannidis JP, Borm GF. The Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman method for random effects meta-analysis is straightforward and considerably outperforms the standard DerSimonian-Laird method. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2014;14:25. [PMID: 24548571] doi:10.1186/1471-2288-14-25 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. DerSimonian R, Laird N. Meta-analysis in clinical trials. Control Clin Trials. 1986;7:177-88. [PMID: 3802833] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.Disclosures: Authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOf InterestForms.do?msNum=L15-0582. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoCorticosteroid Therapy for Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia Reed A.C. Siemieniuk , Maureen O. Meade , Pablo Alonso-Coello , Matthias Briel , Nathan Evaniew , Manya Prasad , Paul E. Alexander , Yutong Fei , Per O. Vandvik , Mark Loeb , and Gordon H. Guyatt Corticosteroid Therapy for Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia Reed A.C. Siemieniuk , Pablo Alonso-Coello , and Gordon H. Guyatt Metrics 3 May 2016Volume 164, Issue 9Page: 636KeywordsAcute respiratory distress syndromeConflicts of interestCorticosteroid therapyDisclosurePneumoniaRelative riskRisk managementVentilators ePublished: 3 May 2016 Issue Published: 3 May 2016 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2016 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...