Steroids in cystic fibrosis exacerbations: are we picking the right patients?

Extract

There is increasing recognition of the harm caused by steroid over-prescribing and need for corticosteroid stewardship in respiratory medicine. We read, with interest, the recently published results of the PIPE Study. Waters et al. [1] published the results of a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing prednisone 1 mg·kg^–1 twice daily with placebo in pulmonary exacerbations of cystic fibrosis (CF) treated with intravenous antibiotics. The authors randomised subjects after 7 days of antibiotic treatment to account for the fact that 75% of patients will rapidly respond to antibiotics alone.