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Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often are prescribed low-dose glucocorticoids, especially early in the course of the disease, but their safety remains controversial. Guidelines state that steroids can be used as a bridging therapy for RA, but they should be tapered as rapidly as clinically feasible. However, many patients stay on low-dose steroids, and prednisone at a dose of ≤5 mg daily is considered by some to be safe. In this observational cohort study from France, researchers analyzed data from 602 patients (mean age, 48; 79% women) with early RA; 386 patients received glucocorticoids, mainly low-dose prednisone (mean dose, 3.1 mg daily), at least once during 7 years of follow-up.
Steroid use varied in duration, from 6 months or …