Association between oral corticosteroid starting dose and the incidence of pneumonia in Japanese patients with ulcerative colitis: a nation-wide claims database study.

ABSTRACT:

Background/aims

A previous study demonstrated that half of patients started oral corticosteroids (OCS) for ulcerative colitis (UC) exacerbations at lower doses than recommended by Japanese treatment guidelines (initial OCS prednisolone equivalent dose, 30-40 mg). This may relate to physician's concern about infection, especially pneumonia including Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP), from high OCS doses. We assessed whether pneumonia incidence is increased with guideline-recommended OCS initial doses.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study used the Japan Medical Data Center claims database (2012-2021). The whole cohort consisted of all UC patients who started OCS during the study period meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The matched cohort was created by prop

SUBMITTER: Matsuoka K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11309823 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature