Key clinical point: The daily administration of prednisolone at a dose of 5 mg or higher increased the risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with doses below 5 mg not appearing to increase the cardiovascular risk.
Major finding: Compared with no use of glucocorticoids, the administration of ≥5 mg prednisolone daily led to a nearly twofold increase in the risk for incident MACE (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 2.02; P < .001), with the risk increasing by 7% per month ( P < .001) over a long-term follow-up. No association was observed between daily use of prednisolone < 5 mg and the risk for MACE (aHR 0.83; 95% CI 0.60-1.14).
Study details: This population-based retrospective cohort study included 12,233 patients with RA and without MACE at baseline.
Disclosures: This study did not receive any specific funding. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: So H et al. Time and dose-dependent effect of systemic glucocorticoids on major adverse cardiovascular event in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A population-based study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2023 (Jul 24). doi: 10.1136/ard-2023-224185