A recent study, conducted by the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium and funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), examined whether the addition of abatacept, a drug that affects T cell activation, to standard prednisone treatment could reduce the risk of relapse in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA).1 Although…
Treatment with oral methylprednisolone may be associated with an increased risk of serious adverse events, specifically infection, in patients with IgA nephropathy. Despite the five-times higher risk, study results also showed a three-times lower risk of kidney failure for the treatment group…
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The importance of biomedical research to advancing clinical care with the ultimate goal of improving patients’ lives was on display during an ACR Discovery 2016 plenary session at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The session offered new ways to think about and treat select rheumatologic diseases, including research showing for the first time the…
Depending on stage, severity and rate of progression of disease, systemic corticosteroids are commonly used to treat pulmonary sarcoidosis. However, a review of the literature suggests they have limited usefulness in advanced stage IV pulmonary sarcoidosis. Once sarcoidosis has advanced to this degree, steroid use may unnecessarily expose a patient to life-threatening complications, as demonstrated…
The Friday night press release: When a politician or any public figure needs to disclose unfavorable news, chances are they will release it sometime on a late Friday afternoon or evening, hoping that nobody is paying attention. In fact, this behavior was coined “the take out the trash day” on the television political drama, The…
Questions around prescribing steroids as bridge therapy, in long-term low dosages, or low-dose timed-release formulas, or not at all evoke controversy among rheumatologists
Patients with conditions that don’t resolve with topical steroids are signal for referral
A combination therapy with glucocorticoids may be the gold standard for treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
Steroid use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been linked to higher mortality rates, greater rate of infections, more cases of pneumonia, and serious gastrointestinal events
There is not a consensus between all European rheumatologists regarding the use of steroids in RA; quite a few share your skepticism, including myself.