Glucocorticoids are steroids widely prescribed to treat a range of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
While high doses of steroids are known to increase the risk of heart disease, the impact of lower doses is unknown.
In a recent study at Leeds University, researchers found that people receiving low doses of glucocorticoids are also at increased risk of heart disease.
The study is published in PLOS Medicine. One author is Mar Pujades-Rodriguez.
In the study, the team analyzed the medical records of 87,794 people diagnosed with 6 different inflammatory diseases from 389 primary care clinics in 1998-2017 in the UK.
They found that for patients using less than 5 milligrams glucocorticoid per day, the risk of heart disease nearly doubled compared to patients not using glucocorticoids.
Increased dose-dependent risk ratios were found in many heart problems, including atrial fibrillation, heart failure, heart attack, peripheral arterial disease, and so on.
Previously, it was believed that taking 5 mg of glucocorticoid over the long-term was safe, but the study shows that even patients taking low doses have double the risk of developing heart disease.
These findings suggest patients needing long-term steroid treatment should be prescribed the lowest effective dose and have a personalized heart risk prevention plan that accounts for past and current steroid use.
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