Diabetes link to glucocorticoid treatments for arthritis, finds study

A new study in the UK has highlighted the potential risk of diabetes that exists for people with arthritis who are being treated with glucocorticoid therapy.

Known as a well-established treatment option, steroid therapy is prescribed to around half of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. However, it is a known risk factor for developing diabetes.

For this new research, led by the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Epidemiology at the University of Manchester, researchers looked at the records of more than 20,000 patients with rheumatoid arthritis in the UK, and provided fresh evidence about how this association with diabetes works.

The study, published in Arthritis and Rheumatology, compared rates of new-onset diabetes in people who were prescribed glucocorticoids to people who were not. Glucocorticoids were shown to be associated with one new case of diabetes for every 150 to 200 people treated each year.

These findings were verified after being compared to data from a further 12,657 records held in the US.

The team of researchers concluded that low doses of steroids do not increase the risk of diabetes, but people who take them for long periods or at high doses may be susceptible.

However, it was not advised that people stop the use of glucocorticoids, as they have been used effectively since 1948 to treat joint pain, but rather doctors will need to take these findings into account when determining treatment options in future.

Dr Will Dixon, director of the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Epidemiology at the University of Manchester, says, “Doctors treating people with arthritis have to make a decision how best to prescribe glucocorticoids by balancing the benefits against the risks. However, until now, no studies have considered how the risk changes with the dose and duration of treatment. This research provides important evidence for doctors to make this decision.”

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