Patients with inflammatory diseases of the oral glucocorticoids – commonly thought of as "Kortison" &ndash summarized; take, suffer more often from infections. With increasing dose, the risk increases. But also people that take only small amounts, regularly, fall ill more frequently to respiratory infections, conjunctivitis, or shingles.

In the study of almost 40,000 patients have been examined, the to giant cell arteritis, a blood vessel inflammation, or Polymyalgia rheumatica, a disease, which is associated with muscle pain, suffered. In case you inventory a higher risk for infections, if you are glucocorticoids, such as prednisolone, prednisone or hydrocortisone, in the Form of tablets revenue. Already at low daily doses of less than five milligrams of prednisolone, the infection was an increased risk, and increased with higher doses more. The risk of fungal infections increased by 48 percent, and for bacterial infections by 70 percent.

While you were prescribed cortisone, suffered more than half of the average 73-year-old patients (56 percent) of infections, most commonly infections of the lower respiratory tract (27%), conjunctivitis (9%) and shingles (7 percent). More than a quarter of the patients were hospitalized, and seven percent died within a week after the diagnosis of infection.

The authors conclude: "Patients and Physicians should be informed about the risk of infection, the need for diagnosis and immediate treatment, timely vaccination, and the detection of a history of chronic infections such as Herpes zoster."

ZOU