Table 1.

Distribution of current and cumulative prednisone-equivalent glucocorticoid (GC) dosage in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica

	Starting dose	1 year	2 years	5 years	10 years
Current dose, mg/day*
No.	352	229	130	57	16
Mean ± SD	16.9 ± 7.1	5.9 ± 5.6	6.1 ± 7.6	7.2 ± 9.5	9.1 ± 14.1
Median	15.0	5.0	4.4	5.0	5.0
Quartile 1, quartile 3	15.0, 20.0	2.8, 7.6	2.5, 7.0	3.0, 6.8	3.0, 9.1
Range	5.0–60.0	1.0–60.0	1.0–60.0	1.0–60.0	1.0–60.0
Cumulative dose, grams†
No.	359	334	302	201	78
Mean ± SD	0.0 ± 0.0	2.9 ± 1.8	4.0 ± 3.5	6.3 ± 9.8	9.4 ± 25.1
Median	0.0	2.7	3.4	3.9	4.2
Quartile 1, quartile 3	0.0, 0.0	1.9, 3.6	2.1, 5.4	2.1, 7.9	1.9, 8.4
Range	0.0–0.1	0.0–21.8	0.0–43.7	0.0–109.4	0.0–218.9

^*Among patients on GC at each time point.

^†Among all patients being followed, still under observation at each time point, including patients who are no longer on glucocorticoid therapy.