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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Clinical Microbiology
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1419015
This article is part of the Research Topic Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies of Tick-borne Diseases View all articles

The use of glucocorticoid in severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS): a retrospective cohort study

Provisionally accepted
Chunxia Guo Chunxia Guo *Yuzhang Chen Yuzhang Chen Huan Wang Huan Wang Fengqin Zhou Fengqin Zhou
  • Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is prevalent in East Asia.However, the use of glucocorticoids (GCs) in the treatment of SFTS remains controversial.In this retrospective cohort study, we collected the data from patients with SFTS at Wuhan Union Hospital to evaluate the effect of GC therapy. Mortality and secondary infections were compared as outcomes. After searching public databases, we also included articles that examined GC use in patients with SFTS for meta-analysis.Results: Patients treated with GC had higher fatality rates (21.1% vs. 11.9%, respectively; P=0.006) and a longer length of stay (10.6 ± 5.1 vs. 9.5 ± 4.2, respectively; P=0.033). In cohorts adjusted using propensity score matching and inverse probability of treatment weighting, no significant differences in fatality rates and length of stay were observed. A meta-analysis of 4243 SFTS patient revealed that those treated with GCs had significantly higher mortality (OR=3.46, 95% CI =2.12-5.64, P<0.00001) and secondary infection rate (OR=1.97, 95% CI=1.45-2.67,Discussion: GC should be used cautiously when treating SFTS. No significant differences were identified in terms of mortality and secondary infection rates between patients with SFTS treated with or without GC.

    Keywords: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, glucocorticoid, Mortality, Infection, Meta-analysis

    Received: 17 Apr 2024; Accepted: 22 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guo, Chen, Wang and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chunxia Guo, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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