Click Here to return To Results

 

A Comparison of Daily and Alternate-Day Prednisone Therapy in the Treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Arch Neurol 48:575-579, Fenichel,G.M.,et al, 1991 See this aricle in Pubmed Article Abstract We previously reported the results of a randomized,double-blind 6-month trial of prednisone therapy in which 102 boys aged 5 to 15 years with Duchenne muscular dystrophy received daily doses of 1.5 and0.75 mg/kg per day and were compared with those receiving placebo.The strength and function in both prednisone-treated groups improved equally and were significantly better than in the placebo group.To compare alternate-day and daily dosing of prednisone with respect to benefits and adverse side effects,the placebo group was started on alternate-day prednisone therapy, and the treatment group regimens were changed to equivalent doses of alternate-day prednisone without breaking the double-blind nature.At the end of 6 months,the group that was changed from daily to alternate-day therapy had declined in strength back to levels observed 12 months previously,at the start of daily therapy.The group in which alternate-day therapy was started showed a significant improvement in strength at 3 months,similar in magnitude to the response of boys treated with daily therapy.However,their strength declined significantly in the subsequent 3 months compared with boys who received daily therapy.The frequency of side effects was not significantly different for alternate-day therapy compared with daily therapy.We conclude that alternate-day prednisone therapy effectively increases strength but does not sustain the improvement to the same extent as daily therapy or mitigate side effects.

Related Tags

(click to filter results - removes previous filter) muscular dystrophy muscular dystrophy,Duchenne steroid steroid therapy,CNS treatment and complications with treatment of neurologic disorder

Click Here to return To Results