Glucocorticoids are a class of medications used to treat a variety of inflammatory conditions and used by many different routes, including tablets, topical creams, and inhaled medications.
In a recent study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and elsewhere, researchers found that people taking the drugs for conditions such as asthma, allergies, and arthritis on a routine basis may be unable to mount a normal stress response and are at high risk of COVID-19.
Patients taking these medications may be more susceptible to COVID-19 as a result of the medication suppressing the immune system.
They may also experience more severe disease once infected because these medications suppress their own steroid response to infection.
The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. One author of the study is Paul M Stewart.
Published research from the Wuhan province in China found those with diabetes and high blood pressure were overrepresented among severely ill patients and those who died.
Scientists have been studying how the virus responsible for COVID-19 enters cells and spreads from one individual to another.
Some have already made preliminary observations regarding the virus’s interactions with the endocrine system.
The team says individuals with known primary adrenal insufficiency, also known as Addison’s disease, and secondary adrenal insufficiency occurring in hypopituitarism should also take extra precautions.
If patients develop symptoms such as a dry continuous cough and fever, they should double their oral glucocorticoid dose immediately and continue doing so until the fever has subsided.
They, too, will require injectable glucocorticoid therapy should their condition worsen.
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