Association of corticosteroid dose and route of administration with Article

Association of corticosteroid dose and route of administration with risk of treatment failure in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - Article Example bation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or emphysema or failure of the respiratory system along with either COPD or emphysema. Two groups were formulated which included patients who were treated on low doses of corticosteroids which were administered orally as well as patients who were treated with high doses of corticosteroids which was given intravenously. After the high dose intravenous route, the number of deaths were 1.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3%-1.5%) and the patients who responded with primary outcomes were 10.9% (95% CI, 10.7%-11.1%) According to the multivariable regression model, the risk of the patient not responding to treatment via the oral route was less than that via the intravenous route that is (odds ratio [OR], 0.93; 95% CI, 0.84-1.02). This model was to analyze the effect of the route chosen for the corticosteroids with the primary and secondary outcomes of the patient. High dose intravenous therapy does not provide any major benefits which are superior to the results of treatment with low dose corticosteroids administered orally. Rather the intravenous therapy is associated with pain and carries a risk of infection and higher costs in comparison to the oral low dose corticosteroid therapy. The research does provide strong support about the authors conclusion that low dose orally administered corticosteroids hold the same if not superior results for patients with acute exacerbation of COPD. This research should be sufficient to reduce the health care costs imposed by COPD because it is one of the leading problems in the United States. Low doses of corticosteroids orally would result in lower adverse effects along with reduced cost and hospital stay. Hence the results of this research should be effectively utilized. About 92 percent of the patients were given intravenous therapy whereas