Glucocorticoides en la artritis reumatoide

Over the last few decades, one of the most widely debated issues in rheumatology has been definition of the utility of glucocorticoids in rheumatoid arthritis. The high antiinflammatory power of glucocorticoids has been known since the 1950s and these drugs are widely used as symptomatic treatment for clinical exacerbations. Nevertheless, the potential adverse effects of these drugs limit and jeopardize their use. One of the unresolved questions is their potential efficiency beyond clinical improvement, that is, whether these agents act as true disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.This review focuses on the use of glucocorticoids in rheumatoid arthritis, from the introduction of these drugs until the most recent evidence, which allows us to recommend glucocorticoid use to achieve more rapid clinical response, greater functional capacity and reduced radiological progression.