Table 1.

Summary of prospective studies suggesting benefit for use of corticosteroids in patients with septic shock

Study	Design	Therapy	Outcome
Bollaert et al. [7]	Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial	100 mg hydrocortisone intravenously every 8 h for 5 days	Shock reversal at 7 days; treatment, 68% (15/22); placebo, 21% (4/19). P = 0.007
Briegel et al. [8]	Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial	100 mg hydrocortisone intravenous loading dose plus infusion at 0.18 mg/kg/h until shock reversal, then wean infusion	Median time to cessation of vasopressor support; treatment (n = 20), 2 days versus placebo (n = 20), 7 days. P = 0.005
Annane [9]	Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial	50 mg hydrocortisone intravenously every 5 h + 50 μg fludrocortisone perorally once daily for 7 days	28-day survival by Cox model, 28.8% relative risk reduction for treatment (n = 150) versus placebo (n = 149). Relative risk, 0.712; 95% confidence interval, 0.525–0.965