Trial reportThe European respiratory journal2023
Prolonged higher dose methylprednisolone
Trial report in The European respiratory journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical efficacy and safety of recombinant human brain natriuretic peptide in the treatment of sepsis complicated by heart failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy and Safety of Pirfenidone for Mitigation of Interstitial Lung Abnormalities in COVID-19 Patients: A Meta-Analysis.Canadian respiratory journal · 2026Pooled it
- Methylprednisolone versus dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Corticosteroids for treating sepsis in children and adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of glucocorticoids in the treatment of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of different corticosteroids on severe community-acquired pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open respiratory research · 2024Pooled it
- Early C-reactive protein reduction predicts survival in COVID-19 severe pneumonia treated with glucocorticoids.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2025Trial
- Nebulized enriched heparin improves respiratory parameters in patients with COVID-19: a phase I/II randomized and triple-blind clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Interpretable machine learning for predicting low-dose methylprednisolone effectiveness in long COVID.iScience · 2026Article
- Glucocorticoid Treatment in Community-Acquired Pneumonia.Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine · 2026Review
- Impact of glucocorticoid therapy on short- and long-term mortality in immunocompromised patients with community-acquired pneumonia in the ICU: a retrospective cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Existence and relevance of fulminant severe community-acquired pneumonia.Pneumonia (Nathan Qld.) · 2025Article
- The clinical impact of prolonged steroid therapy in severe COVID-19 patients: a retrospective cohort study with propensity score matching.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2025Article
- Higher dose corticosteroids in hospitalised COVID-19 patients requiring ventilatory support (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Should the Start of Immunosuppressive Treatment for COVID-19 Rely upon the Degree of Inflammation or the Time from Onset?Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Safety of steroids in severe community-acquired pneumonia.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2025Review
- Oxygenation indices and early prediction of outcome in hypoxemic patients with COVID-19 pneumonia requiring noninvasive respiratory support in pulmonary intermediate care unit.Pneumonia (Nathan Qld.) · 2024Article
- Evaluating the Risk-Benefit Profile of Corticosteroid Therapy for COVID-19 Patients: A Scoping Review.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Innate Immunity in Protection and Pathogenesis During Coronavirus Infections and COVID-19.Annual review of immunology · 2024Review
- Intravenous high-dose anakinra drops venous thrombosis and acute coronary syndrome in severe and critical COVID-19 patients: a propensity score matched study.Scientific reports · 2024Observational
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
103 authors at 20 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDysregulated systemic inflammation is the primary driver of mortality in severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Current guidelines favour a 7-10-day course of any glucocorticoid equivalent to dexamethasone 6 mg daily. A comparative randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a higher dose and a longer duration of intervention was lacking.
methodsWe conducted a multicentre, open-label RCT to investigate methylprednisolone 80 mg as a continuous daily infusion for 8 days followed by slow tapering
results677 randomised patients were included. Findings are reported as methylprednisolone (n=337)
conclusionProlonged, higher dose methylprednisolone did not reduce mortality at 28 days compared with conventional dexamethasone in COVID-19 pneumonia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.