Effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial
Importance: Acute lower respiratory tract infection is common and often treated inappropriately in primary care with antibiotics. Corticosteroids are increasingly used but without sufficient evidence. Objective: To assess the effects of oral corticosteroids for acute lower respiratory tract infec...
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| Format: | Article |
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American Medical Association
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46997/ |
| _version_ | 1848797445488640000 |
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| author | Hay, Alastair D. Little, Paul Harnden, Anthony Thompson, Matthew Wang, Kay Kendrick, Denise Orton, Elizabeth Brookes, Sara T. Young, Grace J. May, Margaret Hollinghurst, Sandra Carroll, Fran E. Downing, Harriet Timmins, David |
| author_facet | Hay, Alastair D. Little, Paul Harnden, Anthony Thompson, Matthew Wang, Kay Kendrick, Denise Orton, Elizabeth Brookes, Sara T. Young, Grace J. May, Margaret Hollinghurst, Sandra Carroll, Fran E. Downing, Harriet Timmins, David |
| author_sort | Hay, Alastair D. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Importance: Acute lower respiratory tract infection is common and often treated inappropriately in primary care with antibiotics. Corticosteroids are increasingly used but without sufficient evidence.
Objective: To assess the effects of oral corticosteroids for acute lower respiratory tract infection in adults without asthma.
Design, Setting, and Participants: Multicenter, placebo-controlled, randomized trial (July 2013 to final follow-up October 2014) conducted in 54 family practices in England among 401 adults with acute cough and at least 1 lower respiratory tract symptom not requiring immediate antibiotic treatment and with no history of chronic pulmonary disease or use of asthma medication in the past 5 years.
Interventions: Two 20-mg prednisolone tablets (n = 199) or matched placebo (n = 202) once daily for 5 days.
Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcomes were duration of moderately bad or worse cough (0 to 28 days; minimal clinically important difference, 3.79 days) and mean severity of symptoms on days 2 to 4 (scored from 0 [not affected] to 6 [as bad as it could be]; minimal clinically important difference, 1.66 units). Secondary outcomes were duration and severity of acute lower respiratory tract infection symptoms, duration of abnormal peak flow, antibiotic use, and adverse events.
Results: Among 401 randomized patients, 2 withdrew immediately after randomization, and 1 duplicate patient was identified. Among the 398 patients with baseline data (mean age, 47 [SD, 16.0] years; 63% women; 17% smokers; 77% phlegm; 70% shortness of breath; 47% wheezing; 46% chest pain; 42% abnormal peak flow), 334 (84%) provided cough duration and 369 (93%) symptom severity data. Median cough duration was 5 days (interquartile range [IQR], 3-8 days) in the prednisolone group and 5 days (IQR, 3-10 days) in the placebo group (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.89-1.39; P = .36 at an α = .05). Mean symptom severity was 1.99 points in the prednisolone group and 2.16 points in the placebo group (adjusted difference, −0.20; 95% CI, −0.40 to 0.00; P = .05 at an α = .001). No significant treatment effects were observed for duration or severity of other acute lower respiratory tract infection symptoms, duration of abnormal peak flow, antibiotic use, or nonserious adverse events. There were no serious adverse events.
Conclusions and Relevance: Oral corticosteroids should not be used for acute lower respiratory tract infection symptoms in adults without asthma because they do not reduce symptom duration or severity. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:03:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-46997 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:03:59Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | American Medical Association |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-469972020-05-04T19:01:22Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46997/ Effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial Hay, Alastair D. Little, Paul Harnden, Anthony Thompson, Matthew Wang, Kay Kendrick, Denise Orton, Elizabeth Brookes, Sara T. Young, Grace J. May, Margaret Hollinghurst, Sandra Carroll, Fran E. Downing, Harriet Timmins, David Importance: Acute lower respiratory tract infection is common and often treated inappropriately in primary care with antibiotics. Corticosteroids are increasingly used but without sufficient evidence. Objective: To assess the effects of oral corticosteroids for acute lower respiratory tract infection in adults without asthma. Design, Setting, and Participants: Multicenter, placebo-controlled, randomized trial (July 2013 to final follow-up October 2014) conducted in 54 family practices in England among 401 adults with acute cough and at least 1 lower respiratory tract symptom not requiring immediate antibiotic treatment and with no history of chronic pulmonary disease or use of asthma medication in the past 5 years. Interventions: Two 20-mg prednisolone tablets (n = 199) or matched placebo (n = 202) once daily for 5 days. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcomes were duration of moderately bad or worse cough (0 to 28 days; minimal clinically important difference, 3.79 days) and mean severity of symptoms on days 2 to 4 (scored from 0 [not affected] to 6 [as bad as it could be]; minimal clinically important difference, 1.66 units). Secondary outcomes were duration and severity of acute lower respiratory tract infection symptoms, duration of abnormal peak flow, antibiotic use, and adverse events. Results: Among 401 randomized patients, 2 withdrew immediately after randomization, and 1 duplicate patient was identified. Among the 398 patients with baseline data (mean age, 47 [SD, 16.0] years; 63% women; 17% smokers; 77% phlegm; 70% shortness of breath; 47% wheezing; 46% chest pain; 42% abnormal peak flow), 334 (84%) provided cough duration and 369 (93%) symptom severity data. Median cough duration was 5 days (interquartile range [IQR], 3-8 days) in the prednisolone group and 5 days (IQR, 3-10 days) in the placebo group (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.89-1.39; P = .36 at an α = .05). Mean symptom severity was 1.99 points in the prednisolone group and 2.16 points in the placebo group (adjusted difference, −0.20; 95% CI, −0.40 to 0.00; P = .05 at an α = .001). No significant treatment effects were observed for duration or severity of other acute lower respiratory tract infection symptoms, duration of abnormal peak flow, antibiotic use, or nonserious adverse events. There were no serious adverse events. Conclusions and Relevance: Oral corticosteroids should not be used for acute lower respiratory tract infection symptoms in adults without asthma because they do not reduce symptom duration or severity. American Medical Association 2017-08-22 Article PeerReviewed Hay, Alastair D., Little, Paul, Harnden, Anthony, Thompson, Matthew, Wang, Kay, Kendrick, Denise, Orton, Elizabeth, Brookes, Sara T., Young, Grace J., May, Margaret, Hollinghurst, Sandra, Carroll, Fran E., Downing, Harriet and Timmins, David (2017) Effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 318 (8). pp. 721-730. ISSN 1538-3598 Oral Prednisolone; Symptom duration; Nonasthmatic adults; Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection; Randomised Controlled Trial. http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2649201 doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.10572 doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.10572 |
| spellingShingle | Oral Prednisolone; Symptom duration; Nonasthmatic adults; Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection; Randomised Controlled Trial. Hay, Alastair D. Little, Paul Harnden, Anthony Thompson, Matthew Wang, Kay Kendrick, Denise Orton, Elizabeth Brookes, Sara T. Young, Grace J. May, Margaret Hollinghurst, Sandra Carroll, Fran E. Downing, Harriet Timmins, David Effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial |
| title | Effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial |
| title_full | Effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial |
| title_fullStr | Effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial |
| title_short | Effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial |
| title_sort | effect of oral prednisolone on symptom duration and severity in nonasthmatic adults with acute lower respiratory tract infection: a randomized clinical trial |
| topic | Oral Prednisolone; Symptom duration; Nonasthmatic adults; Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection; Randomised Controlled Trial. |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46997/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46997/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46997/ |