Although steroids that are either used over long periods of time or over abused can be detrimental to the human body, scientists and researchers have discovered a beneficial aspectof the drug. They have found that short-term usage of Corticosteroids, drugs containing different medicines such as cortisone, can help the recovery process from Pneumonia.

Pneumonia is a disease caused by an infection in the lungs. Although Pneumoniacan be harmless in everyday life, in other circumstances in which older adults, infants, or people with other illnesseswere to get Pneumonia, the disease can cause many difficulties to their health. Due to the life-threatening risks of Pneumonia, scientists have been working very hard to confirm Corticosteroidsas a healthful medicine.

To confirm that Corticosteroids are beneficial in recovering from Pneumonia, an international team led by Siemieniuk organized 13 clinical trials involving over 2,000 patients diagnosed with Pneumonia. Fortunately, many positive outcomes were seen from the patients who received Corticosteroid treatment. These patients were discharged from the hospital one day earlier than patients who were not treated with Corticosteroid and needed ventilators less frequently to help them breathe. Corticosteroid treatment also decreased the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome for patients from eight to two percent. Overall, scientists and researchers concluded that Corticosteroid can reduce death rates of patientswith Pneumonia from 10 percent to five percent, which demonstrates how beneficial Corticosteroids can be for Pneumoniapatients.

Despite the positive results, scientists have also found that Corticosteroids can also be harmful for patients with diabetes and hypertension, and that long-term use can be detrimental to the human body. Although there are a few minor risks to the usage of Corticosteroids, the benefits of this drug ultimatelyoutweigh the negatives, establishing that Corticosteroidsshould be used to treat patients with Pneumonia.

After a careful analysis of the positives and negatives of Corticosteroids for patients with Pneumonia, I think that this drug should be used to treat patients because it can prevent life threatening situations from occurring. Furthermore, the low number of disadvantages can be avoided with caution.



<Christine Hwang>