Fig. 1 Corticosteroids treatment for severely ill patients with 2019-nCoV. a Demographics and baseline characteristics of patients infected with 2019-nCoV according to survival condition. aOf the 14 infections, 12 with identified pathogens, 2 diagnosed by characteristic clinical symptoms without identified pathogens; bN = 7. *P < 0.05, a significant difference between the two groups. b Part of indexes of 15 critically ill patients with 2019-nCoV infection during corticosteroids therapy. *P < 0.05 vs. the indexes on day 1. SaO2 oxygen saturation, CS corticosteroids, IMV invasive mechanical ventilation, PaO2/FiO2 ratio of arterial oxygen tension to fractional inspired oxygen concentrations, WBC white blood cell, CRP C-reaction protein, FIB fibrinogen