RA ℞: Corticosteroid

Long-term Low-dose Steroids OK in Early RA

Use with DMARDs and for the shortest period and the lowest possible dose
medpagetoday.com

“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

Objective To determine the frequency of prescriptions for short term use of oral corticosteroids, and adverse events (sepsis, venous thromboembolism, fractures) associated with their use. Design Retrospective cohort study and self controlled case series. Setting Nationwide dataset of private insu…
bmj.com

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.


Low-dose prednisone chronotherapy for rheumatoid arthritis: a randomised clinical trial (CAPRA-2)

Objective To assess the efficacy and safety of low-dose prednisone chronotherapy using a new modified-release (MR) formulation for the treatment of rheumatoid…
ard.bmj.com

Intra-articular glucocorticoid injections should not be neglected in the remission targeted treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis: a post hoc analysis from the NEO-RACo trial

Full Papers; Authors: Laura A. Kuusalo, Kari T. Puolakka, Hannu Kautiainen, Eeva M. Alasaarela, Pekka J. Hannonen, Heikki A. Julkunen, Oili A. Kaipiainen-Seppänen, Markku M. Korpela, Timo T. Möttönen, Leena H. Paimela, Ritva L. Peltomaa, Timo K. Yli-Kerttula, Marjatta Leirisalo-Repo, Vappu M. Rantal…
clinexprheumatol.org

Glucocorticoids and endothelial function in inflammatory diseases: focus on rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common systemic autoimmune disease characterized by articular and extra-articular manifestations involving…
arthritis-research.biomedcentral.com