Ruiz-Irastorza, GGarcia, MEspinosa, GCaminal, LMitjavila, FGonzález-León, RSopeña, BCanora, JVillalba, M VRodríguez-Carballeira, MLópez-Dupla, J MCallejas, J LCastro, ATolosa, CSánchez-García, M EPérez-Conesa, MNavarrete-Navarrete, NRodríguez, A PHerranz, M TPallarés, L2025-01-072025-01-072016-08-022053-8790https://hdl.handle.net/10668/27586To study the influence of prednisone dose during the first month after systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) diagnosis (prednisone-1) on glucocorticoid burden during the subsequent 11 months (prednisone-2-12). 223 patients from the Registro Español de Lupus Eritematoso Sistémico inception cohort were studied. The cumulative dose of prednisone-1 and prednisone-2-12 were calculated and recoded into a four-level categorical variable: no prednisone, low dose (up to 7.5 mg/day), medium dose (up to 30 mg/day) and high dose (over 30 mg/day). The association between the cumulative prednisone-1 and prednisone-2-12 doses was tested. We analysed whether the four-level prednisone-1 categorical variable was an independent predictor of an average dose >7.5 mg/day of prednisone-2-12. Adjusting variables included age, immunosuppressives, antimalarials, methyl-prednisolone pulses, lupus nephritis and baseline SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI). Within the first month, 113 patients (51%) did not receive any prednisone, 24 patients (11%) received average low doses, 46 patients (21%) received medium doses and 40 patients (18%) received high doses. There was a strong association between prednisone-1 and prednisone-2-12 dose categories (p7.5 mg/day, while patients receiving low-dose prednisone-1 were not (adjusted OR 1.4, 95% CI 0. 0.38 to 5.2). If the analysis was restricted to the 158 patients with a baseline SLEDAI of ≥6, the model did not change. The dose of prednisone during the first month after the diagnosis of SLE is an independent predictor of prednisone burden during the following 11 months.enAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/CorticosteroidsDisease ActivitySystemic Lupus Erythematosusresearch article27547439open access10.1136/lupus-2016-000153PMC4985804https://lupus.bmj.com/content/lupusscimed/3/1/e000153.full.pdfhttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4985804/pdf