Creation and Benefits of the “COVID Autopsy Listserve”

respiratory distress syndrome management can include corticosteroids, as they may decrease the time on a ventilator and reduce mortality.9 Corticosteroids are also administered if there is suspicion of adrenal insufficiency or if they are indicated because of an underlying condition.Currently, the World Health Organization and major critical care and infectious diseases associations advise against routine corticosteroid use in COVID-19 patients, mainly out of concern for slowing viral clearance.However, early reports from China and Europe suggested that corticosteroids are useful in severe COVID-19 and some experts posit that severe cytokine release syndrome seen in some patients warrants the use of corticosteroids or other targeted immunosuppressants.[9][10][11][12] It is interesting to consider that adrenal insufficiency secondary to the vasculopathy described here may contribute to the cytokine storm observed in patients with severe COVID-19.Clinical studies to further assess adrenal function in COVID-19 may help in understanding the pathogenesis of disease in severely affected patients and hopefully lead to therapeutic protocols that may rescue an increased number of patients.