WASHINGTON -- Patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) completely tapered off prednisone have a more than fourfold risk of relapse by 6 months compared with those tapered to 5 mg/day of prednisone; however, this benefit was only seen in patients not on rituximab, according to new research presented at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2024 Annual Meeting.
"For patients treated with rituximab, fully tapering off glucocorticoids is reasonable to consider as the first approach," said Peter Merkel, MD, MPH, chief of the division of rheumatology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, during his presentation of the findings.
Although a low dose of glucocorticoids can prevent some minor relapses in patients on other treatment regimens such as methotrexate or azathioprine, "fully tapering off prednisone presents relatively little risk of major relapse, and that major relapse can be treated rather quickly," Merkel added.
The Assessment of Prednisone in Remission (TAPIR) trial enrolled 143 patients with GPA who were in remission (defined as a Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score for Wegener's Granulomatosis [BVAS/WG] of 0) within 1 year of treatment to induce remission for active disease and who were taking 5-10 mg of prednisone per day. After all patients tapered to 5 mg/day of prednisone, 71 patients completely tapered off prednisone over 4 weeks and remained off glucocorticoids until month 6. The remaining patients maintained a 5-mg/day dose over the study period. Placement in either treatment group was randomized, and patients continued other immunosuppressive therapy during the study.
Researchers evaluated the rate of relapse by 6 months, defined as a physician's decision to increase the dose of glucocorticoids to treat GPA, in both groups.
Across all participants, the median age was 58 years, and 52% of patients were male. Most patients were White, and 47% of all patients were prescribed rituximab.
At 6 months, 15.5% of participants who completely tapered off prednisone experienced a relapse of GPA compared with 4.2% of those taking low-dose prednisone. Time to relapse was also shorter in the 0-mg prednisone group (P = .026), and relapses occurred continually over 6 months, Merkel said.
When stratified by rituximab use, relapse rates at 6 months between the 5-mg and 0-mg prednisone groups in patients taking rituximab showed no difference. Among patients not taking rituximab, those who completely stopped prednisone were nine and a half times as likely to experience relapse as those in the low-dose group.
Despite these differences in relapse rates, "surprisingly, there were no differences in patient-reported outcomes [such as pain interference, physical function, and fatigue]," Merkel said.
Across all patients, all but one relapse was characterized as minor. There were five serious adverse events and 10 infections in the 0-mg group versus one adverse event and four infections in the 5-mg group, but these differences were not statistically significant.
In patients who relapsed, musculoskeletal and ear, nose, and throat manifestations of GPA were most common, and these are "the kind of stuff we see that is helped by low-dose glucocorticoids," Merkel said.
It's a good sign that for patients who were completely weaned off glucocorticoids, nearly all relapses were minor, Galina Marder, MD, a rheumatologist and associate professor of medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, New York, told Medscape Medical News. She was not involved with the research.
The study "can reinforce the message [of] trying to get them off steroids completely [when possible]," she said.
The findings also provide insight for future clinical trials, Merkel noted. For patients taking non-rituximab-based regimens, completely tapering off glucocorticoids or maintaining a low dose can affect study outcomes.
"[These data are] even more important for clinical trials because they are [reinforcing] the fact that you can have a diminishing signal if you allow some patients to stay on 5 mg prednisone" when GPA flares are the primary outcome, Marder added.