RESEARCH - Adverse events common with low- to medium-dose steroids

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Adverse Events Common With Low- to Medium-Dose Glucocorticoids

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Nov 24 - In patients receiving

glucocorticoids for inflammatory diseases, adverse events are very

common, even at low to medium doses, according to a meta-analysis by

researchers in the Netherlands.

In fact, they report in the December ls of the Rheumatic Diseases,

the overall adverse event rate averaged 150 per 100 patient-years. In

studies that focused only on patients with inflammatory bowel disease,

the adverse event rate was 555 per 100 patient-years.

When lead author Dr. J. N. Hoes and associates at the University

Medical Center Utrecht applied their selection criteria in their

literature search, they identified 28 studies involving 2382 subjects,

including patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA, n=796), polymyalgia

rheumatica (PMR, n=167), and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD, n =

1419). All patients had received either low-dose (0 to 7.5 mg

prednisolone equivalent per day) or medium-dose (> 7.5 to 30 mg)

regimens.

Mean daily doses were 7.5 mg in the RA group, 8.6 mg in the PMR group,

and 13.9 mg in the IBD group.

Among the patients with RA and PMR, adverse event rates per 100

patient-years -- 43 and 80, respectively -- were much lower than in

the IBD group.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/712955

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