ArticleClinical rheumatology2018
Safety and efficacy of alternate-day corticosteroid treatment as adjunctive therapy for rheumatoid arthritis: a comparative study.
Article in Clinical rheumatology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- 2024 Update of the Asia-Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology (APLAR) Recommendations for Rheumatoid Arthritis Management.International journal of rheumatic diseases · 2026Guideline
- Cardiovascular Risk Factor and Atherosclerosis in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).Current cardiology reports · 2025Review
- Article
- The Effects of Alternate-Day Corticosteroids in Autoimmune Disease Patients.Autoimmune diseases · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Corticosteroids (CSs), used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), confer a risk of adverse events (AEs). This study investigated the safety and efficacy of alternate-day (QOD) CS therapy for RA. All patients (> 18 years) who started oral CS therapy for RA, between 2005 and 2014, at our hospital were retrospectively analysed. The patients were divided into the daily (QD) and QOD CS therapy groups to investigate the rates of CS-related major AEs (infection, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular events and fragility fractures) within the first year of treatment. The number of patients free from CS treatment at 1 year and the mean decreases in C-reactive protein (CRP) levels at 1 month were also investigated. In total, 138 patients were analysed (QD group, 68; QOD group, 70). The maximum daily CS dose was not significantly different between the two groups, but the annual cumulative dose was significantly lower in the QOD group (P < 0.01). The infection rate was significantly lower in the QOD group (24.3%) than in the QD group (50.0%; P < 0.01), whereas the other AE rates were similar between the groups. The CS-free rate at 1 year was significantly higher in the QOD group (58.6%) than in the QD group (26.5%; P < 0.01). The mean CRP decreases over 1 month of CS therapy were not significantly different between the groups. QOD CS treatment leads to a lower infection rate and less CS dependence than does daily treatment; both RA treatments are equally effective.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.