ArticleFrontiers in medicine2022
Performance of leflunomide as a steroid-sparing agent in giant cell arteritis: A single-center, open-label study.
Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- The effectiveness and safety of leflunomide in the treatment of giant cell arteritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Rheumatology advances in practice · 2025Review
- Giant cell arteritis: reviewing the advancing diagnostics and management.Eye (London, England) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The management of giant cell arteritis (GCA) remains challenging and many patients require prolonged glucocorticoid treatment due to high disease relapse rates. We aimed to evaluate the role of leflunomide as a steroid-sparing agent in GCA. Methods: This prospective open-label study included patients diagnosed with GCA between July 2014 and August 2020 and followed them for 96 weeks. At the time of diagnosis all patients received treatment following a predefined glucocorticoid regimen. At week 12 of follow-up, 10 mg of leflunomide per day was recommended as an adjunctive therapy. The decision to start with leflunomide treatment was patient-dependent. Follow-up visits were performed adhering to a predetermined protocol. The number of relapses, the cumulative glucocorticoid dose and treatment-related adverse events were recorded and compared between glucocorticoid-only and leflunomide groups. Results: Of the 215 GCA patients [67.6% female, median (IQR) age 74 (66-79) years], 151 (70.2%) received leflunomide at week 12 (leflunomide group); the others continued with glucocorticoids (glucocorticoid-only group). During the study 64/215 (29.8%) patients relapsed. Of the 51 patients who relapsed after 12 weeks, 22/151 patients (14.6%) and 29/64 patients (45.3%) were in the leflunomide and glucocorticoid-only group, respectively ( Conclusion: In our cohort, leflunomide safely and effectively reduced the GCA relapse rate and demonstrated a steroid-sparing effect in over three quarters of patients.
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