Adding Prednisone to Methotrexate May Be Helpful in Early RA

“However,” he adds, “two important caveats have to be mentioned. First, the study findings can also be explained by other treatments—known and unknown—during the post-trial follow-up and not necessarily from prednisone. Second, although better radiographic outcomes were seen with the use of prednisone, we do not know whether patients were actually doing better in the absence of disease-specific quality of life measure.”

References

1. Safy M, Jacobs J, IJff ND, et al. Long-term outcome is better when a methotrexate-based treatment strategy is combined with 10 mg prednisone daily: Follow-up after the second Computer-Assisted Management in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis trial. Ann Rheum Dis. 2017 Apr 27. pii: annrheumdis-2016-210647. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-210647. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Bakker MF, Jacobs JW, Welsing PM, et al. Low-dose prednisone inclusion in a methotrexate-based, tight control strategy for early rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2012 Mar 6;156(5):329-39. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-156-5-201203060-00004.