From the January/February 2008 issue of Arthritis Today (page 63).
This info also comes from the article "your Health" and is titled, "the upside of cortisteroids." These are only an excerpts from the article:
"Many patients are hesitant to use cortisteroids because they are afraid of the side effects."
As a result, doctors and patients instead of embraced traditional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and newer biologics.
Steroids are no more toxic, and may be less so, than other drugs used to treat RA. And they do modify disease, slowing progression(as seen on x-rays) by as much as 50 percent in some studies.
Controlling disease activity may have benefits in addition to slowing progression. "Increased disease activity is a risk factor for lymphoma."
In the study cortisteroids protected against large B-cell lymphoma, the type most associated with RA.
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