Table 2 Patients’ medications and outcomes of treatment (n = 26).
From: A multicenter study of long-term outcomes of relapsing polychondritis in Iran
Duration of follow-up, median (IQR), months | 41 (19, 73) |
Medications | |
Prednisolone (%) | 25 (96.2) |
Azathioprine (%) | 14 (53.8) |
Methotrexate (%) | 13 (50.0) |
Cyclophosphamide (%) | 5 (19.2) |
Leflunomide (%) | 4 (15.4) |
Mycophenolate mofetil (%) | 4 (15.4) |
TNF inhibitors (%) | 4 (15.4) |
Dapson (%) | 3 (11.5) |
Hydroxychloroquine (%) | 2 (7.7) |
Colchicine (%) | 2 (7.7) |
Rituximab (%) | 1 (3.8) |
Adherence to therapy (%) | 20 (76.9) |
Results of treatment | |
Control of symptoms (%) | 22 (84.6) |
Sustained remission (%) | 20 (76.9) |
Resistant to therapy (%) | 4 (15.4) |
RPDAI at cohort entry, median (IQR) | 22.5 (17.2, 30.5) |
RPDAI at last visit, median (IQR) | 0 (0, 13) |
Time to control of symptoms, median (IQR), weeks | 5 (4, 12) |
Time to sustained remission, median (IQR), weeks | 23 (12, 49) |
Duration of remission, median (IQR), months | 36.5 (12, 48) |
Disease course | |
Relapsing remitting (%) | 9 (34.6) |
Mono phasic (%) | 11 (42.3) |
Always active (%) | 6 (23.1) |
Glucocorticoids | |
Initial prednisolone dose (mg/d), median (IQR) | 30 (11, 30) |
Final prednisolone dose (mg/d), median (IQR) | 5 (0, 10) |
Prednisolone discontinuation (%) | 8 (30.8) |
Flare of disease after prednisolone discontinuation (%) | 2 (25) |
Duration of prednisolone free remission, median (IQR), months | 45 (12, 58) |
Initial therapy | |
Monotherapy with DMARDs (%) | 21 (80.8) |
Combination of 2 DMARDs (%) | 3 (11.5) |
Only prednisolone (%) | 2 (7.7) |
Treatment during disease course | |
Continuation of initial DMARDs (%) | 9 (34.6) |
Changing of initial DMARDs because of inefficacy or intolerance (%) | 8 (30.8) |
Adding other DMARDs (%) | 7 (26.9) |
No DMARDs (%) | 2 (7.7) |
DMARDs | |
Medications-free remission (%) | 6 (23.1) |
Relapse of disease after DMARDs discontinuation (%) | 3 (50) |
Time to medications-free remission, median (IQR), months | 43.5 (16, 90) |
Duration of medications-free remission, median (IQR), months | 32.5 (7.3, 57.7) |
Remission in last visit (%) | 18 (69.2) |
Duration of remission in last visit, median (IQR), months | 38 (14, 48) |
Treatment at the last visit | |
Only prednisolone (%) | 1 (3.8) |
Prednisolone and DMARDs (%) | 16 (61.5) |
Only DMARDs (%) | 4 (15.4) |
No medications (%) | 5 (19.2) |
