Korean J Intern Med.  2002 Jun;17(2):150-152.

Steroid-induced delirium in a patient with asthma: report of one case

• Koh YI
• Choi IS
• Shin IS
• Hong SN
• Kim YK
• Sim MK

Abstract

Systemic steroids are highly effective for patients with moderate-to-severe asthma exacerbations. Steroid-induced psychosis is known to be one of the adverse effects of steroid therapy, although infrequent. However, there is no reliable method of predicting steroid psychosis. We experienced the case of a 40-year-old asthmatic man who had previously taken steroids without any psychological side effect, but became acutely delirious after receiving some doses of steroids, higher than the previous doses, under a condition of emotional stress. The mean dose of prednisolone administered was 82 mg/day (1.37 mg/kg/day) for 10 days but the patient had taken two courses of steroids (0.82 mg/kg/day and 0.5 mg/kg/day, respectively) for asthma exacerbations without any psychiatric episodes during the previous year.At this time, the patient was under a condition of emotional stress related to family reasons. The asthmatic exacerbation of this case may be precipitated from sudden emotional stress and the following treatment with a high dose of steroida should be used cautiously due to the possibility of psychotic side reactions.

Keyword

Asthma; Steroids; Delirium; Stress

MeSH Terms

Adult
Asthma/drug therapy
Case Report
Delirium/*chemically induced
Glucocorticoids, Synthetic/administration & dosage/*adverse effects
Human
Male
Prednisolone/administration & dosage/*adverse effects