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Background This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of systemic corticosteroids in the treatment of patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (sCAP). Methods A comprehensive search was conducted using the Medline, Embase, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Scopus databases for articles published until April 24, 2023. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the clinical efficacy and safety of adjunctive corticosteroids for treating sCAP were included. The primary outcome was the 30-day all-cause mortality. Results A total of severe RCTs involving 1689 patients were included in this study. Overall, the study group had a lower mortality rate at day 30 than the control group (risk ratio [RR], 0.61; 95% CI 0.44 to 0.85; p < 0.01) with low heterogeneity (I2 = 0%, p = 0.42). Compared to the control group, the study group had a lower risk of the requirement of mechanical ventilation (RR 0.57; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.73; p < 0.001), shorter length of intensive care unit (MD − 0.8; 95% CI − 1.4 to − 0.1; p = 0.02), and hospital stay (MD − 1.1; 95% CI − 2.0 to − 0.1; p = 0.04). Finally, no significant difference was observed between the study and the control groups in terms of gastrointestinal tract bleeding (RR 1.03; 95% CI 0.49 to 2.18; p = 0.93), healthcare-associated infection (RR 0.89; 95% CI 0.60 to 1.32; p = 0.56), and acute kidney injury (RR 0.68; 95% CI 0.21 to 2.26; p = 0.53). Conclusions In patients with sCAP, adjunctive corticosteroids can provide survival benefits and improve clinical outcomes without increasing adverse events. However, because the pooled evidence remains inconclusive, further studies are required.

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The long-term risk of herpes zoster (HZ) after recovery from a SARS-CoV-2 infection is unclear. This retrospective cohort study assessed the risk of HZ in patients following a COVID-19 diagnosis. This retrospective, propensity score-matched cohort study was based on the multi-institutional research network TriNetX. The risk of incident HZ in patients with COVID-19 was compared with that of those not infected with SARS-CoV-2 during a 1-year follow-up period. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of HZ and its subtypes were calculated. This study identified 1 221 343 patients with and without COVID-19 diagnoses with matched baseline characteristics. During the 1-year follow-up period, patients with COVID-19 had a higher risk of HZ compared with those