Steroids can relieve sore throat

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Sore throats linked to colds and flu often last only a day or two, but they’re miserable. Moreover, there are few good remedies to shorten the duration other than antibiotics to treat the infection.

A single dose of prescription corticosteroids, however, appears to hasten pain relief. A study published online this week in the British Medical Journal analyzed eight previous studies on the effectiveness of a single dose of corticosteroids in adults and children. The researchers from the University of Oxford found that patients given corticosteroids in addition to antibiotics were three times more likely to report complete resolution of pain in 24 hours compared with patients given a placebo. Corticosteroids also reduced the average time to pain relief by six hours. The use of painkillers made no difference in hastening pain relief.

But there are several caveats. One is that the treatment worked only in adults, not children. Also, most of the cases of shortened pain relief were in people with a bacterial sore throat and who had secretions -- a fairly severe infection. The effects of corticosteroids seem to be less robust in people with milder illness.

Finally, an editorial accompanying the study cautions that the risk of complications of corticosteroids in this situation are not well known. Corticosteroids seem to help relieve sore throat because they dampen the body’s inflammatory response to the infection.

‘Clinicians should outline the evidence for the efficacy of steroids in terms of pain control during the first 24 hours . . . convey the slight uncertainty about rare side effects, and then let the patient decide,’ the editorial states.

-- Shari Roan