Leader
Dilemmas of low dosage glucocorticoid treatment in rheumatoid arthritis: considerations of timing
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
 |
Introduction |
|---|
Controversy continues regarding relative benefits versus adverse effects of low dosage glucocorticoid treatment (LDGT) in rheumatoid arthritis.1-5 Opinions differ on the definition of LDGT in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and its variations, depending upon age and gender. We believe that LDGT for rheumatoid arthritis is best considered in terms of ranges of physiological replacement, that is, up to 5 mg of prednisolone (or prednisone) daily for women and up to 7.5 mg for men in their active years, but less in the elderly of either gender.
Elderly females develop more adverse effects from chronic LDGT than young males, particularly osteoporosis,2 3 5 which may be related to an osteoporosis sparing6 and glucocorticoid protective7 role of androgens. Clinical experience (ATM) suggests that patients with rheumatoid arthritis presenting mainly with polymyalgia-rheumatica-like muscular and systemic manifestations respond relatively better to LDGT than those showing either more aggressive erosive synovitis processes or indications of necrotising vasculitis.
Another consideration
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Ramos-Casals, M., Garcia-Carrasco, M., Cervera, R., Font, J.
(2001). Is Hepatitis C Virus a Sialotropic Virus?. Am. J. Pathol.
159: 1593-1594
[Full Text] -
Kohno, M., Kawahito, Y., Tsubouchi, Y., Hashiramoto, A., Yamada, R., Inoue, K.-i., Kusaka, Y., Kubo, T., Elenkov, I. J., Chrousos, G. P., Kondo, M., Sano, H.
(2001). Urocortin Expression in Synovium of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis: Relation to Inflammatory Activity. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.
86: 4344-4352
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Mittal, G, Balakrishna, C, Mangat, G, Joshi, V R
(1999). 'Sustained remission' in a case of SLE following megadose cyclophosphamide. Lupus
8: 77-80
[Abstract] -
Font, J., Tàssies, D., García-Carrasco, M., Ramos-Casals, M., Cervera, R., Reverter, J. C., Sánchez-Tapias, J. M., Mazzara, R., Ingelmo, M.
(1998). Hepatitis G virus infection in primary Sjogren's syndrome: analysis in a series of 100 patients. Ann Rheum Dis
57: 42-44
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
-
Immunology (including allergy)
-
Connective tissue disease
-
Degenerative joint disease
-
Musculoskeletal syndromes
-
Rheumatoid arthritis
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
