Doctors warn against steroids use in mild Covid-19 cases.

PESHAWAR -- The health experts in Peshawar-based hospitals, who have been using steroids for treatment of Covid-19 patients for the last three months, say that the drug is beneficial for coronavirus patients requiring oxygen but it is not recommended in mild disease.

They said that Dexamethasone, Betamethasone, Hydrocortisone, Prednisolone and Methyleprednisolone were different steroids having similar action but their potency and duration of action were different.

These doctors have been using steroids for treatment of Covid-19 patients since the onset of the pandemic in the province.

They said that moderate to severe disease would need hospitalisation and close monitoring. They said that steroids were provento decrease severity of the disease as well as mortality.

`Since the result of the Dexamethasone recovery trial, doctors have started using it for certain Covid-19 patients all over the country. Dexamethasone works as antiinflammatory agent controlling the hyper inflammatory response in certain group of Covid-19 patients,` Prof Khalid Mahmood of medicine department at Lady Reading Hospital told Dawn.

He said that many hospitals were using it for treatment of admitted patients. He said that steroids worked as double-edged sword.

`Used unwisely, it can lead to many adverse effects including exacerbation of infection including TB, diabetes, hypertension, weight gain, muscle weakness, bone and skin thinning, changes in body shape, extra hair growth and suppression of adrenal glands,` he added.

Appropriate doses under physicians` supervision would be equally beneficial in the particular group of Covid-19 patients, he...