Observational studyRheumatology international2015
High variability in glucocorticoid starting doses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: observational data from an early arthritis cohort.
Observational study in Rheumatology international, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Glucocorticoid sparing in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with Janus kinase inhibitors: insights from the Japanese patient registry.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Development and validation of a clinical scoring system for the prediction of methotrexate treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a multicenter real-world study.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2026Article
- Association Between Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity and Periodontitis Defined by Tooth Loss: Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Data From Two Observational Studies.Arthritis care & research · 2025Observational
- Late-Onset Rheumatoid Arthritis (LORA): A Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenge Among Older Patients Visiting a Poorly Resourced Health-Care Setting.Mediterranean journal of rheumatology · 2024Review
- Factors associated with subclinical inflammation of wrist joints in rheumatoid arthritis patients with low or no disease activity- a RA ultrasound registry study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2023Article
- Tapering glucocorticoids and risk of flare in rheumatoid arthritis on biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs).RMD open · 2023Article
- In the era of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, how close are we to treating rheumatoid arthritis without the use of glucocorticoids?Rheumatology international · 2021Observational
- Gender May Influence the Immunosuppressive Actions of Prednisone in Young Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Article
- Patterns of glucocorticoid prescribing and provider-level variation in a commercially insured incident rheumatoid arthritis population: A retrospective cohort study.Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism · 2020Article
- Review
- Centre effects and case-mix in early rheumatoid arthritis observational cohorts: a narrative review.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2019Review
- A patient-reported questionnaire developed in a German early arthritis cohort to assess periodontitis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Arthritis research & therapy · 2019Observational
- [Methodological approaches in the development of clinical guidelines].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2017Review
- [New options for the practice : Update S1/S2 guidelines on rheumatoid arthritis?]Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2017Review
- [Prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in Germany based on health insurance data : Regional differences and first results of the PROCLAIR study].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2016Article
- [Glucocorticoids].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2016Review
- Body mass index distribution in rheumatoid arthritis: a collaborative analysis from three large German rheumatoid arthritis databases.Arthritis research & therapy · 2016Article
- [Clinical remission in rheumatoid arthritis. Data from the early arthritis cohort study CAPEA].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To evaluate initial glucocorticoid (GC) therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Six hundred sixty-nine patients with early RA were followed for 2 years in the multicenter "Course And Prognosis of Early Arthritis" cohort. Treatment was applied according to routine care. Assessments included disease activity (DAS28), disability Hannover Functional Status Questionnaire (FFbH), and treatment details. Mixed models, ANCOVA, and logistic regression models were used for statistical analysis. In total, 518 patients (77 %) received oral GCs at baseline; 20 % received a low dose (<7.5 mg prednisolone/day), 22 % received a moderate (7.5-19 mg), and 35 % received a high dose (≥20 mg). In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, higher DAS28 values (OR 1.3) were associated with the use of higher GC doses at baseline (p < 0.001). After adjusting for age, sex, and baseline DAS28 and DMARDs, the patients who started with high-dose GCs had a greater improvement in DAS28 (month 3) and FFbH (month 6, p < 0.001 each). At 2 years, the mean DAS28 remission rates and FFbH values were similar. In all GC groups, the mean dose was tapered to 4 mg/day within 6 months. The reported comorbidities were not increased in patients with high-dose GC therapy. Starting treatment with high-dose GCs led to a better clinical response within 3 to 6 months compared to starting patients on lower dosages. Irrespective of the starting approach, rheumatologists tapered GCs down to a low dose within 6 months. With this strategy, clinical outcomes at 2 years did not differ relevantly.
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