Present status of steroid administration to patients with autoimmune hepatitis and factors associated with relapse

Abstract

The study included 200 patients diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis. Steroids were administered to 162 patients, and a complete response was achieved in 149 patients. However, among the 141 patients who could be evaluated, relapse was observed in 69 patients, and more than half of them relapsed at a prednisolone dose of <5 mg/day. Although there was no significant difference in factors between patients with and without relapse, we could observe significant difference in several factors when 32 patients who relapsed at a prednisolone dose of ≥5 mg/day were classified as the steroid-dependent group, and 62 patients without relapse at a maintenance dose of ≤5 mg were classified as the steroid-independent group. Multivariate analysis of these groups showed that age and cholestatic enzymes were factors associated with relapse. Our results suggest that analyzing data in consideration of steroid dose at relapse is important to investigate the factors associated with relapse.