EDITORIAL - Steroids for RA: The honeymoon revisited (once again)

[Guest guest]

The Journal of Rheumatology

October 2005

" Steroids for Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Honeymoon Revisited (Once Again) " :

Glucocorticoids constitute one of the most common treatments for rheumatoid

arthritis (RA). Registries and large databases have estimated the prevalence

of steroid use at 20%-40% of new enrollees, with up to 75% of patients

exposed at any time in their course1-3. These statistics belie an

uncomfortable truth: despite their pervasiveness, limited data support

longterm steroid use, and evidence of their deleterious effects continues to

mount. Physician practice patterns thus may reflect an amalgam of (1)

personal opinions about longterm efficacy, extrapolated from short-term

exposure data; (2) a failure to be familiar with or convinced by the

toxicity literature; or (3) patient preferences, characteristics, or

outcomes heretofore not captured in the existing longterm data.

******************************

To read the rest of this editorial, please see:

http://www.jrheum.com/subscribers/05/10/1863.html

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org