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  • Year in Review
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Glucocorticoids in 2015

New answers to old problems

Since glucocorticoids were first used to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis in 1949, they have become the most common therapy for inflammatory disorders; however, their use is associated with major metabolic adverse events. Here, we review three 2015 reports with clinical and fundamental implications for the use of glucocorticoid therapy in rheumatology.

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Figure 1: Beneficial anti-inflammatory effects versus harmful metabolic consequences of glucocorticoids.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Lupus Research Institute, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and the Ulysses Club Arthritis Research Fund for funding their work.

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Correspondence to Eric F. Morand.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Jones, S., Morand, E. New answers to old problems. Nat Rev Rheumatol 12, 73–74 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2015.176

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