Even Short-Term Corticosteroid Use May Have Serious Side Effects, Research Suggests.

“Well” blog reports that “even short-term use” of corticosteroids may “have serious side effects,” researchers concluded after analyzing “records of 1,548,945 Americans aged 18 to 64 who were enrolled in a nationwide health care insurance program from 2012 to 2014.” The study revealed that “even at a relatively low dose of 20 milligrams a day or less,” patients on corticosteroids “had four times the risk of sepsis...more than triple the risk of blood clots and almost twice the risk of a fractured bone.” The findings were published online in the BMJ. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/well/live/steroids-may-be-risky-even-in-the-short-term.html