A study published in Frontiers in Pediatrics investigated the effects of a new steroid treatment on children suffering from ARDS.

In this pilot study, children diagnosed with ARDS in intensive care units requiring mechanical ventilation, were treated with the corticosteroid, methylprednisolone. The treatment showed suppressed inflammation, “although the trial did not improve mortality or the duration that mechanical ventilation was required, the children’s ventilation and blood oxygenation improved,” researchers explained. They added that “this is a very significant outcome as, even with a small pilot study, we were able to demonstrate significant differences in those treated with steroids.”

Researchers said “our studies have already found that steroids reduce the activation of neutrophils (white blood cells) and this reduces the amount of MMP-8 biomarker in the blood, so if a patent has high levels of this biomarker, we can assume they will be more responsive to steroid therapy.”