OBJECTIVE: To systematically evaluate the effects of glucocorticoids on the condition and prognosis of severe acute pancreatitis（ SAP）. METHODS: PubMed

Medline

the Cochrane Library

EMBase

VIP

CNKI and Wanfang database were retrieved to collect randomized controlled trial（ RCT） of conventional treatment +glucocorticoid（ study group） and conventional treatment（ control group） for SAP. The retrieval time was from Jan.1 st

2007 to Sept. 1 st

2020. The improved Jadad scale was used to evaluate the quality of literature. RevMan 5. 3 statistical software was used for Meta-analysis to evaluate the relief time of abdominal pain

recovery time of blood amylase

systemic inflammatory response syndrome（ SIRS） score

acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ（ APACHEⅡ）

length of stay

complication rate and mortality rate. RESULTS: A total of 12 RCT were included

with 1 119 patients with SAP. Meta-analysis results showed that the relief time of abdominal pain（ MD =-2. 03

95% CI =-2. 94--1. 13

P < 0. 000 1）

recovery time of blood amylase（ MD =-2. 44

95% CI =-3. 40--1. 48

P <0. 000 01） and length of stay（ MD =-7. 83

95% CI =-12. 02--3. 64

P = 0. 002） in the study group were significantly shorter than those in the control group

and the incidence of complications（ OR = 0. 16

95% CI = 0. 09-0. 27

P < 0. 000 01）

mortality rate（ OR = 0. 16

95% CI = 0. 07-0. 38

P < 0. 000 1） were significantly lower than those in the control group

and the above differences were statistically significant. The difference of SIRS score and APACHEⅡ score on the 5 th day after admission and the time of admission between two groups was not statistically significant（ P > 0. 05）. CONCLUSIONS: Early application of glucocorticoids for SAP can help to relieve the condition and improve the prognosis.