Long-term Low-dose Steroids OK in Early RA
"Long-term" in this study was up to 5 years, with a mean of 3 years.
"Low-dose" was up to 5 mg, averaging 3 mg.
Short term use of oral corticosteroids and related harms among adults in the United States: population based cohort study
Less than 1% of the subjects were prescribed what is conventionally considered as "low dose" of less than 7.5 mg of Prednisolone daily, so the risks may not be applicable to this group. Over 90% were prescribed more than 17.5 mg daily. "Short term" spanned 4-7 days.
At such moderate-to-high doses, significant side-effects were observed within 30 days of prescription: 5 times the risk for infection, 3 times the risk for venous thromboembolism, and twice the risk for fracture.