Background. Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is often complicated by elevation of cardiac troponin, a marker of myocardial injury, that can be isolated or associated to myocardial infarction (MI). A retrospective study showed that corticosteroid treatment lowers incidence of MI during the hospital-stay. No data exist so far on the effect of corticosteroids on myocardial injury in CAP patients.~Study design. Double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. One hundred twenty-two eligible patients will be randomized to a week treatment with iv methylprednisolone (20 mg b.i.d) or placebo from hospital admission. Serum hs-cTnT will be measured at admission and every day until up 3 days from admission. ECG will be monitored every day until discharge. After dismission, all patients will be followed-up 2 years.~Aims of the study. Primary objective of the study is to evaluate if methylprednisolone is able to reduce myocardial injury, as assessed by serum high-sensitivity cardiac T Troponin (hs-cTnT), in a cohort of patients hospitalized for CAP.~Secondary aims are to evaluate the potential effect of methylprednisolone on cardiovascular events during hospitalization, at 30 day from hospital admission and during 2 years' follow-up. The trial will also examine whether the potential protective effects of methylprednisolone might be due to platelet activation down-regulation.
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is often complicated by elevation of cardiac troponin, a marker of myocardial injury, that can be isolated or associated to myocardial infarction (MI). A retrospective study showed that corticosteroid treatment lowers incidence of MI during the hospital-stay.~The aim of this clinical trial is to examine whether in-hospital treatment with iv methylprednisolone (20 mg b.i.d) may reduce myocardial injury, as assessed by serum high-sensitivity cardiac T Troponin) and eventually cardiovascular events during a short- and long-term follow-up in patients hospitalized CAP.