April 15, 2008

Compressed Prednisone Schedule May Reduce Some Side Effects

Two days a week of the corticosteroid prednisone at a high dose appears to be almost as beneficial as a daily moderate dose of the drug in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and some side effects may be less severe, investigators reported today at the 60th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Chicago.

The year-long, multicenter study, supported by MDA and the National Institutes of Health, was conducted by Diana Escolar at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, with colleagues at many institutions.

The investigators analyzed data from 64 boys with DMD who were 4 to 10 years old, had not previously taken corticosteroids, and were still walking.

The boys were randomly assigned to take prednisone at 0.75 milligrams per kilogram every day, or to take prednisone at 10 milligrams per kilogram per day two days a week. Neither the boys nor the investigators knew who was on which schedule. (Boys on the two-day prednisone schedule received “dummy” pills on the no-prednisone days.)

Effects on strength maintenance were similar in the two groups, but time required to get up from the floor was better in the daily prednisone group.

Growth retardation, a known prednisone side effect, was less severe in the two-day, high-dose prednisone group, but weight gain, another serious side effect, was the same in both groups after a year.