Adjunctive steroid therapy for managing pulmonary tuberculosis

Adjunctive steroid therapy for managing pulmonary tuberculosis

Julia A Critchley1, Lois C Orton2, Fiona Pearson1

1 St George's, University of London, Population Health Sciences Institute, London, UK
2 University of Liverpool, School of Population, Community and Behavioural Sciences, Liverpool, UK

Adjunctive steroid therapy for managing pulmonary tuberculosis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014, Issue 11. Art. No.: CD011370.

To read the full review please follow this link: DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD011370.

Pulmonary tuberculosis is a common infectious disease. Although curable with standard anti-pulmonary tuberculosis drugs, it has been reported that an individuals recovery could be improved by adding corticosteroids to their treatment. Current clinical guidelines advise the use of corticosteroids for treatment of other types of tuberculosis; tuberculosis meningitis and tuberculosis pericarditis. Whether corticosteroids would be beneficial in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis remains unclear. After reviewing the evidence available to date we found that there was not enough high quality data to support or reject corticosteroid use alongside anti-pulmonary tuberculosis drugs.