Review

A practical guide to the monitoring and management of the complications of systemic corticosteroid therapy

Dora Liu, Alexandra Ahmet, Leanne Ward, Preetha Krishnamoorthy, Efrem D Mandelcorn, Richard Leigh, Jacques P Brown, Albert Cohen and Harold Kim

For all author emails, please log on.

Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology 2013, 9:30 doi:10.1186/1710-1492-9-30

Published: 15 August 2013

Abstract (provisional)

Systemic corticosteroids play an integral role in the management of many inflammatory and immunologic conditions, but these agents are also associated with serious risks. Osteoporosis, adrenal suppression, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, Cushing's syndrome, psychiatric disturbances and immunosuppression are among the more serious side effects noted with systemic corticosteroid therapy, particularly when used at high doses for prolonged periods. This comprehensive article reviews these adverse events and provides practical recommendations for their prevention and management based on both current literature and the clinical experience of the authors.

The complete article is available as a provisional PDF. The fully formatted PDF and HTML versions are in production.