The reduction of concomitant glucocorticoids dosage following treatment with IL-1 receptor antagonist in adult onset Still’s disease. A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Background: Despite being burdened by significant adverse events, glucocorticoids (GCs) are frequently employed in managing adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD), prompting the need for GC-sparing agents. In this work, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to synthesize the evidence about the reduction of concomitant GCs dosage and the rate of GCs discontinuation in patients with AOSD who were treated with anakinra, a recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was completed to identify all available data concerning the reduction of concomitant GCs dosage following anakinra in AOSD and a meta-analysis was thus performed using a random-effects model. Results: A significant reduction of the GCs dosage was detected by pooled analysis with mean difference of –22.4 mg/day [95% confidence interval (CI): –28.8 to –16.1, p