What is your typical steroid taper regimen for managing RA flares?

I tend to avoid doing steroids to my patients with RA. When I do, I use low doses, 5 mg to 7.5 mg QAM for no more than 2 weeks or so. Generally, I tend to avoid the use of steroids in this population unless absolutely necessary, e.g., RA vasculitis, etc.

However, there are patients who require more and for longer periods. And there are a few exceptional patients who seem to be almost always dependent on a low prednisone dose most of the time, regardless of other DMARDs they may be on.

These patients seem to need a little bit of prednisone most of the time even though they are on adequate other DMARDs, including biologics and newer agents.

For RA, rheumatologists seem to approach the use of steroids on a highly individualized basis. We al...