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- In 1997
The Cochrane Injuries Group did a systematic review looking at all the trials of
corticosteroids in head injury - This graph shows the combined mortality data from 13 randomised controlled trials of corticosteroids in head injury - Each trial of corticosteroids was small - the largest included only a few hundred patients, and together they have involved only about 2,000 patients - Overall, the risk of death in the corticosteroid treated group appears to be about 2% lower than in the control group - If corticosteroids did reduce the risk of death by 2%, and reduced the risk of disability by a similar amount, then treatment of 500,000 patients would avoid 10,000 deaths and prevent 10,000 permanent disabilities |