The risk of life-threatening staph blood infections is shown to be increased in people using glucocorticoids in findings from a new study out of Denmark.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are steroids that are strong immunosuppressive drugs used to reduce inflammation throughout the body.  Cortisol is a naturally occurring GC made by the adrenal glands and works to regulate inflammation in the body.  If the levels of cortisol are lowered, GCs can be used to fill in the gaps.

Glucocorticoids can stop inflammation but may come at a price.  As study lead author Dr. Jesper Smit, of Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark stated, “The findings are a reminder for clinicians to weigh carefully the elevated risk against the potential beneficial effect of glucocorticoid therapy.”

One of the major side effects of GCs is immunosuppression of the immune system making someone taking them more prone to serious infection.  This is exactly the findings this study confirms.  Medical records of nearly 30,000 people were reviewed by the research team and found individuals who had used systemic GCs were 2.5 times more likely than non-users to develop Staphylococcus aureus bacteria-associated blood infections outside the hospital.

It was also discovered that the higher the dose of GCs given, the higher the increase in infection risk. If a person had a 90-day cumulative corticosteroid does less than or equal to 150 milligrams, they had a 2.4 times greater risk than a non-user.  Patients using a cumulative dose of more than 1,000 milligrams had as high as 6.3 times greater risk than someone not using GCs.

The study revealed that the risk of staph blood infection was highest in people who had been using GCs long-term and that cancer patients being placed on a GCs for the first time were also at a high risk. 

Synthetic GCs are used to treat a wide variety of medical conditions from autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.  Synthetic GCs are also used in cancer treatment to reduce side effects of chemotherapy and they are used to replace cortisol in people with Addison’s disease.  Synthetic GCs include prednisone, dexamethasone, and hydrocortisone.

On the one hand, GC can be a miracle drug for many people but they can come with damaging side effects in long-term use.  Besides the risk of immunosuppression other side effects of GCs include the following:

·         Delayed wound healing.

·         Possibly raise blood glucose by causing the liver to make more glucose leading to steroid induced diabetes.

·         Calcium absorption can be suppressed leading to osteoporosis.

·         Muscle atrophy can occur with long-term use of GCs.

·         Increases in cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood.

·         Some people may experience mood changes and memory problems with use of GCs.

·         Increases in ulcers and gastritis can occur.

Short-term use of GCs in healthy people generally does not cause a problem. Anyone, however anyone using a GCs needs to be monitored closely by their physician to reduce the risk of a staph blood infection and if one does occur, to get it treated right away.