• Sabine Mainbourg, Axel Tabary, Michel Cucherat, François Gueyffier, Hervé Lobbes, Marie Aussedat, Guillaume Grenet, Isabelle Durieu, Maxime Samson, and Jean Christophe Lega.
• Service de médecine interne et vasculaire, Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Pierre-Bénite, France; Lyon immunopathology Federation (LIFe), Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France; Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR 5558, Villeurbanne, France. Electronic address: sabine.mainbourg@chu-lyon.fr.
• Mayo Clin. Proc. 2022 Oct 1; 97 (10): 182418351824-1835.

ObjectiveTo compare and rank the effect of glucocorticoid-sparing agents in giant cell arteritis (GCA), for which several drugs have been evaluated but with a benefit-risk balance that remains uncertain.MethodsThe MEDLINE and Clinical Trials databases were searched up to November 2021; all randomized controlled trials investigating glucocorticoids in GCA were included. The glucocorticoid regimen was dichotomized into short (≤6 months) or prolonged (>6 months) use. Risk of relapse and safety were estimated using network meta-analysis with frequentist random effects models.ResultsOf the 96 records screened, 8 trials were included (572 patients). The trials compared glucocorticoids and a sparing agent: tocilizumab (2 trials), oral methotrexate (3 trials), infliximab (1 trial), etanercept (1 trial), and adalimumab (1 trial). The pooled prevalence of GCA relapse was 52.6% (95% CI, 38.1 to 66.9). The risk of relapse was significantly lower with tocilizumab compared with methotrexate (relative risk [RR], 0.41; 95% CI, 0.17 to 0.97) and prolonged (RR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.83) and short (RR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.16 to 0.66) glucocorticoid use. The risk of relapse was not significantly different with methotrexate compared with short (RR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.48 to 1.31) and prolonged (RR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.31 to 2.89) glucocorticoid use. The frequency of serious adverse events and serious infection was comparable between the different drugs. The certainty of the evidence was low to very low.ConclusionThis meta-analysis suggests that tocilizumab may be superior to other sparing agents to prevent GCA relapse, but with a low to very low certainty of evidence, and that safety is comparable to the other drugs.RegistrationThe protocol of the meta-analysis is registered in the international prospective register of systematic reviews PROSPERO (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/; registration CRD42020112387).Copyright © 2022 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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