Alternate-day versus intermittent prednisone in frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome. A report of "Arbetsgemeinschaft für Pädiatrische Nephrologie"

Abstract

23 children with frequently relapsing minimal-change nephrotic syndrome were treated with alternate-day prednisone (35 mg/m2/48 h) and 25 other patients were treated with intermittent prednisone (40 mg/m2 on three consecutive days out of seven) for six months. This was followed by six months without any maintenance steroid treatment except when relapse required a short period of prednisone therapy until remission. The number of relapsers was significantly lower on alternate-day than on intermittent treatment. In the alternate-day group, the number of relapsers and the rate of relapse was significantly less before treatment withdrawal; in the intermittent group, only the number of relapsers was reduced. An alternate-day regiment is therefore preferable to the intermittent regimen in the interrupted steroid treatment of children with nephrotic syndrome.