Trial reportThorax2003
Dexamethasone for treatment of patients mechanically ventilated for lower respiratory tract infection caused by respiratory syncytial virus.
Trial report in Thorax, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 5 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
21 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Corticosteroids for treating sepsis in children and adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Corticosteroids for treating sepsis in children and adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Corticosteroids for pneumonia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Glucocorticoids for acute viral bronchiolitis in infants and young children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Efficacy of interventions for bronchiolitis in critically ill infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Pediatric critical care medicine : a journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies · 2004Pooled it
- Efficacy of prednisolone in children hospitalized for recurrent wheezing.Pediatric allergy and immunology : official publication of the European Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology · 2007Trial
- Efficacies of different treatment strategies for infants hospitalized with acute bronchiolitis.Clinical and experimental pediatrics · 2024Article
- Nonantibiotic Adjunctive Therapies for Community-Acquired Pneumonia (Corticosteroids and Beyond): Where Are We with Them?Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine · 2016Review
- Corticosteroids in the treatment of severe community-acquired pneumonia.Current infectious disease reports · 2014Article
- Acute bronchiolitis in infants, a review.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2014Review
- Recent advances in the management of acute bronchiolitis.F1000prime reports · 2014Review
- Article
- Is prolonged low-dose glucocorticoid treatment beneficial in community-acquired pneumonia?Current infectious disease reports · 2013Article
- Review
- Resveratrol Inhibits respiratory syncytial virus-induced IL-6 production, decreases viral replication, and downregulates TRIF expression in airway epithelial cells.Inflammation · 2012Article
- Inflammatory responses to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection and the development of immunomodulatory pharmacotherapeutics.Current medicinal chemistry · 2012Review
- Antenatal and postnatal corticosteroid and resuscitation induced lung injury in preterm sheep.Respiratory research · 2009Article
- Pitfalls in the design and analysis of paediatric clinical trials: a case of a 'failed' multi-centre study, and potential solutions.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2009Article
- Antiviral therapy for respiratory tract infections.Respirology (Carlton, Vic.) · 2008Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of dexamethasone in patients mechanically ventilated for lower respiratory infection caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV-LRTI).
methodsIn a multicentre randomised controlled trial patients were randomised to receive either intravenous dexamethasone (0.15 mg/kg 6 hourly for 48 hours) or placebo. End points were the duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay (LOS) in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and in hospital, and the duration of supplemental oxygen administration.
resultsThirty seven patients received dexamethasone and 45 received placebo. There was no significant difference in any of the end points between the two groups. In a post hoc analysis patients were stratified into those with mild gas exchange anomalies (PaO(2)/FiO(2) >200 mm Hg and/or mean airway pressure </= 10 cm H(2)O, bronchiolitis group) and those with severe gas exchange anomalies (PaO(2)/FiO(2) </=200 mm Hg and mean airway pressure >10 cm H(2)O, pneumonia group). In the 39 patients with bronchiolitis the duration of mechanical ventilation was 4.3 days shorter in the dexamethasone group than in the placebo group (4.9 v 9.2 days, 95% CI -7.8 to -0.8, p=0.02) and the duration of supplemental oxygen was 3.6 days shorter (7.7 v 11.3 days, 95% CI -8.0 to -0.1, p=0.048). No differences in end points were found in the pneumonia group.
conclusionsDexamethasone had no beneficial effect in patients mechanically ventilated for RSV-LRTI but was found to have a beneficial effect in patients with bronchiolitis.
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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 OpenQuestion graph.