Loading...
For patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), short-term oral glucocorticoid therapy often is used while we await a response to slower-acting disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Additionally, some patients — especially older ones — are given long-term, low-dose steroid therapy. In this randomized European trial, 451 older patients (mean age, 72) with established RA and more-than-minimal disease activity received 5 mg of prednisolone or placebo daily. Average disease duration was 11 years, and most patients already were receiving DMARDs (methotrexate, 63%; biologics, 15%), which were continued.
At 3 months, the DAS28 (a standardized score for disease activity; range, 0–9.4) improved in both groups, but a 0.6-point difference favore…