Table 2

Associations between time-variant prednisolone-equivalent glucocorticoid dose and incident type 2 diabetes by immune-mediated inflammatory disease

Adjusted HRs with 95% CI
Polymyalgia rheumatica or giant cell arteritisInflammatory bowel diseaseRheumatoid arthritisSystemic lupus erythematosusVasculitis
Events (n)323618312303276491
Ever use (ref non-use since 1 year before follow-up start)1.33 (1.18 to 1.51)1.32 (1.19 to 1.45)1.41 (1.29 to 1.54)1.53 (1.18 to 1.99)1.30 (1.08 to 1.57)
Current use (ref non-use)2.32 (2.15 to 2.51)2.86 (2.55 to 3.20)2.01 (1.84 to 2.20)2.71 (2.05 to 3.57)2.20 (1.79 to 2.71)
Current daily dose per
5 mg/day
1.02 (1.01 to 1.04)1.05 (1.04 to 1.06)1.03 (1.02 to 1.04)1.23 (1.17 to 1.30)1.20 (1.15 to 1.26)
Current daily dose in mg
(ref non-use)
1.001.001.001.001.00
 >0–4.92.00 (1.79 to 2.23)2.09 (1.53 to 2.88)1.66 (1.37 to 2.02)1.72 (0.93 to 3.19)1.28 (0.52 to 3.12)
 5.0–14.92.29 (2.07 to 2.53)2.34 (1.93 to 2.84)1.90 (1.71 to 2.12)2.67 (1.94 to 3.68)2.14 (1.57 to 2.90)
 15.0–24.93.14 (2.64 to 3.74)4.20 (2.90 to 6.07)3.07 (2.28 to 4.14)3.00 (1.05 to 8.59)3.04 (1.89 to 4.87)
 ≥253.88 (3.20 to 4.71)5.05 (4.09 to 6.24)4.00 (3.08 to 5.21)6.63 (3.55 to 12.38)3.66 (2.21 to 6.06)
Cumulative dose
per 1000 mg
1.03 (1.02 to 1.03)1.01 (1.00 to 1.01)1.02 (1.01 to 1.02)1.03 (1.01 to 1.04)1.01 (1.00 to 1.02)
Cumulative dose in mg
(ref non-use)
1.001.001.001.001.00
 1.0–959.91.12 (0.96 to 1.31)1.25 (1.09 to 1.42)1.17 (1.04 to 1.32)1.20 (0.83 to 1.75)1.24 (0.97 to 1.59)
 960.0–3054.91.27 (1.11 to 1.46)1.27 (1.10 to 1.46)1.44 (1.25 to 1.65)1.01 (0.61 to 1.69)1.32 (0.95 to 1.85)
 3055.0–7299.91.24 (1.08 to 1.42)1.37 (1.17 to 1.60)1.58 (1.38 to 1.82)2.40 (1.64 to 3.52)1.26 (0.92 to 1.74)
 ≥7300.01.86 (1.62 to 2.14)1.55 (1.31 to 1.83)1.61 (1.42 to 1.81)1.87 (1.30 to 2.69)1.44 (1.07 to 1.95)
  • HRs from Cox proportional imputed models adjusted for baseline age, sex, hypertension, prescribed non-oral glucocorticoids and blood pressure-lowering medication, and underlying inflammatory disease type; and time-variant use of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; the general practice identifier was included as a random intercept to account for clustering effect.