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Gout - Management
What dosing regimen of oral prednisolone should I use?
- For acute gout:
- A short course of a moderately high dose of oral prednisolone is recommended e.g. prednisolone 20–40 mg once a day for 5 days. CKS could find no studies on the optimum dose and duration of oral corticosteroids for gout, and recommendations were pragmatic based on expert opinion. A short course of prednisolone 40 mg or less is relatively safe and is likely to have a rapid response in acute gout flare ups [BNF 53, 2007; Man et al, 2007].
- Historically, lower doses of prednisolone have been used for the treatment of acute gout in UK clinical practice.
- For prophylaxis of gout (during urate-lowering treatment):
- Prednisolone 5–10 mg orally once a day for 4 to 12 weeks is recommended based on the professional opinion of expert reviewers.
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