Table 1

Characteristics of studies of the clinical efficacy of glucocorticoids published in the last 6 years

Study	Disease duration	Intervention	Period of evaluation	Outcomes	Results
Buttgereit et al (CAPRA-2)15	Mean 8 years	MR prednisone (5 mg/day) (Gp 1) or PBO (Gp 2)+existing DMARDs	12 weeks	ACR 20	Gp 1: 48% Gp 2: 29%*
Verschueren et al (CareRA)20	≤1 year	csDMARDs with (Gp 1) or w/o (Gp 2) GCs (30 mg/day to 5 mg/day in 6 weeks)	16 weeks	DAS28-CRP<2.6	Gp 1: 65% Gp 2: 47%
Verschueren et al (CareRA at 1 year)21	≤1 year	csDMARDs with (Gp 1) or w/o (Gp 2) GCs (30 mg/days to 5 mg/days in 6 weeks)	1 year	DAS28-CRP<2.6	Gp 1: 67% Gp 2: 57%
Markusse et al (BeSt at 10 years)23	≤2 years	Initial groups of randomisation: MTX then substituted with csDMARDs (Gp 1) or MTX then addition of csDMARDs (Gp 2) or COBRA scheme=MTX+ SSZ+GCs (60 mg/day to 7.5 mg/day in 6 weeks) (Gp 3) or MTX+IFX (Gp 4)	10 years	DAS44 <1.6	Approx. 50% in each Gp
Safy et al (CAMERA-II follow-up)25	≤1 year	Initial groups of randomisation: GCs (10 mg/day) (Gp 1) or PBO (Gp 2)+MTX	Median 6.6 years	Initiation of first bDMARD	Gp 1: 31% Gp 2: 50%*
Ajeganova et al (BARFOT at 10 years)27	≤1 year	Initial groups of randomisation: csDMARDs with (Gp 1) or w/o (Gp 2) GCs (7.5 mg/day)	10 years	Use of bDMARD	Gp 1: 15% Gp 2: 15%

*P<0.05.
ACR, American College of Rheumatology; approx, approximately;bDMARD, biological disease modifying antirheumatic drugs; CRP, C reactive protein; csDMARDs, conventional synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs; DAS28, Disease Activity Score in 28 joints; DAS44, disease activity score in 44 joints; GCs, glucocorticoids; Gp, group; MR, modified release; MTX, methotrexate; PBO, placebo; SSZ, sulfasalazine; w/o, without.