Doctor warns of higher mortality risk from steroid therapy

A risk posed by steroid therapy that crippled hundreds of patients of the 2003 SARS outbreak in China seems to have emerged in the current treatment regime for the H1N1 pandemic flu.

Overuse of the steroid glucocorticoid to treat critically-ill H1N1 patients has, in many cases, worsened their condition, even leading to deaths after weakening their immunity, warned Li Ning, president of Beijing Youan Hospital, one of the two government-designated hospitals to treat severe H1N1 cases.

So far, 15 of the 49 serious H1N1 patients have died at the hospital, including two pregnant women, said Li.