Table 6.

Prophylaxis with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole for PCP in patients treated with GC

Author-year/country	Patients (N)	GC scheme	Prophylaxis* N (%)	Outcome of prophylaxis	RoB
Park et al170 2018/South Korea	1092 (1522 episodes†)	≥30 mg/day for ≥4 weeks	262 (24.0)	Reduced PCP incidence HR=0.07 (95% CI 0.01 to 0.53), p=0.01	8
Honda et al168 2019/Japan	437	≥50 mg/day	376 (86.0)	Reduced PCP incidence OR=0 (95% CI 0.00 to 0.38), p=0.003	7
Park et al169 2019/South Korea	735 (1065 episodes†)	≥15 mg and <30 mg for ≥4 weeks	45 (6.1)	Reduced PCP incidence in high risk-group‡ HR=0.2 (0.001–2.3)	7
Ogawa et al171 2005/Japan	124	≥30 mg/day	46 (37.1)	Effective in high-risk patients§, p=0.039	7
Vananuvat et al172 2011/Thailand	132 (138 episodes†)	≥20 prednisolone for >2 weeks	59 (44.7)	Reduced PCP incidence, p=0.038	6

*Prophylaxis given in (% episodes): trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole 480 mg/day or three tablets of 480 mg, weekly.

†Episode: a patient could be treated with these doses of glucocorticoids more than once.

‡High-risk group: GC-pulse treatment and/or lymphopenia.

§Risk was calculated using a prediction model.

AIIRD, autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases; GC, glucocorticoids; PCP, pneumocystis pneumonia; RoB, risk of bias.