Dexamethasone side effects and risks, the steroid Trump was treated with

Trump’s doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center cited the positive research when they disclosed that they prescribed the steroid after Trump’s oxygen levels concerningly dropped to 93 percent.
For covid-19 patients on ventilators or receiving oxygen, taking dexamethasone increased their chance of survival, according to the research published in July. But dexamethasone-receiving patients who didn’t require ventilation or oxygen fared no better than patients on the normal course of treatment.
In fact, giving dexamethasone to coronavirus patients who are not at risk of severe illness could further endanger their health, according to an August paper in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.
In its guidelines, the National Institutes of Health recommends against using dexamethasone for covid-19 patients who do not require supplemental oxygen.
Dexamethasone is not often prescribed toward the start of a patient’s infection, experts say, because it can suppress the immune system’s ability to ward off the