ArticleCureus2025
Oral Steroid Pulse Therapy for Polymyalgia Rheumatica.
Article in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesA new regimen of oral steroid pulse therapy (oral-P), involving intermittent administration of a sufficient oral steroid dose, was adopted for the treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). A retrospective evaluation of oral-P in a clinical setting was conducted. MATERIALS AND
methodsThe medical records of PMR patients, diagnosed according to the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria and treated with oral prednisone (P) between April 2015 and July 2020, were reviewed. One course of oral-P consisted of prednisolone at 0.4 mg/kg/day for three consecutive days, followed by 0.1 mg/kg/day for 11 days (0.4P), or 0.8 mg/kg/day followed by 0.2 mg/kg/day (0.8P). After three or five courses, the dose was tapered. The attending physician selected the treatment regimen. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESRs) were monitored. The duration of disease prior to oral-P initiation, follow-up duration after its withdrawal, and any adverse events were assessed.
resultsThirty-four patients (22 women and 12 men, aged 66-86 years; 15 on 0.4P and 19 on 0.8P; 11/4 on three/five courses with 0.4P, and 13/6 with 0.8P) were included. Prior to oral-P initiation, CRP levels and ESRs were significantly higher in the 0.8P group than in the 0.4P group (CRP: 8.93 (4.83-12.0) vs. 4.96 (4.15-6.31) mg/dL; ESR: 113.5 (92.75-129) vs. 84 (66-95.5) mm/h). Although the disease duration before oral-P initiation was longer in the 0.8P group, the difference was not statistically significant. After the first course, both CRP levels and ESRs decreased significantly in both groups, with no significant differences observed between the groups in subsequent courses. Twenty-one patients were successfully withdrawn from steroid therapy without relapse during a follow-up period of 27 (14-49) months. The remaining 13 patients were still undergoing dose tapering at their last visit, with a median dose of 3 (2-6) mg/day. No severe adverse events were reported.
conclusionOral-P appears to be a promising treatment regimen for PMR, providing rapid symptom relief and enabling eventual steroid withdrawal.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.