Advice on long term corticosteroid treatment will be clarified

Editor—Gibson and Prowse have pointed out an apparent contradiction between the current clinical practice of withdrawal of systemic corticosteroid treatment after short courses and an article in the February edition of Current Problems in Pharmacovigilance.1 2 The article was stimulated by concerns about the safety of systemic corticosteroid treatment and recent changes to the product information for these medicines in Britain. The article provided an overview of the adverse effects of the products and gave advice to doctors and pharmacists on how to prescribe and dispense them safely. Particular attention was given to the need to provide all patients with adequate advice on the reasons for treatment and possible adverse effects and to ensure that all patients received the patient information leaflet.

Although the section of the article on withdrawal of treatment provided the same advice as has been given in the British National Formulary, it has prompted requests for further information and clarification. In response to these the Committee on Safety of Medicines and the Medicines Control Agency have set up an expert working group to consider the issues further. We intend to publish our conclusions in order to clarify the advice given to health professionals.