Do higher doses of prednisone increase side effects, recurrences, and hospitalizations compared to lower doses in patients with recurrent pericarditis?
When corticosteroids are needed for recurrent pericarditis, lower doses of prednisone should be considered to minimize side effects, recurrences, and hospitalizations.
Use of higher doses of prednisone (1.0 mg . kg(-1) . d(-1)) for recurrent pericarditis is associated with more side effects, recurrences, and hospitalizations. Lower doses of prednisone should be considered when corticosteroids are needed to treat pericarditis.
Imazio et al. (Tue,) studied this question.