Effect of methylprednisolone combined with azithromycin on levels of serum inflammatory factors in children with lobar pneumonia

  Objective  To investigate the efficiency of glucocorticoids (GCs) combined with azithromycin in treatment of children with lobar pneumonia and its influence on levels of serum inflammatory factors.

  Methods  Totally 118 children with lobar pneumonia were randomly divided into control group and observation group, with 59 cases in each group. The control group was treated with azithromycin, and the observation group was treated with methylprednisolone plus azithromycin. The therapeutic effect, symptoms, signs and changes of serum C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), procalcitonin (PCT) and other inflammatory factors were compared between the two groups.

  Results  The fever regression time, cough and rale disappearance time, lung shadow absorption time, hospitalization time, and levels of serum CRP, TNF-α, IL-6 and PCT in the observation group were significantly better than those in the control group (P < 0.05), and the total effective rate was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  GCs combined with azithromycin is effective in the treatment of children with lobar pneumonia, which can quickly alleviate clinical symptoms and signs, shorten the course of disease, and the safety isgood.