Postoperative use of systemic corticosteroids was linked to a longer duration of mechanical ventilation (MV), but it did not increase mortality or overall complications.

While the study’s initial analysis did not show a clear relationship between the dose of steroids and the length of time on a ventilator, a machine learning model found that the total cumulative steroid dose was the most significant predictor of prolonged MV.

In the group of 354 patients, about 10.5% received corticosteroids.

Although these patients initially appeared to have higher mortality and complication rates, this difference was not statistically significant after accounting for other factors.

The key finding remained that those who received steroids required mechanical ventilation for a longer period.

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