Low-Dose Steroids Associated with Diabetes

Researchers have found a link between low-dose steroids and diabetes.

Dr Carolyn Petersons studied the effects of steroids on a group of people who were taking the drugs for rheumatoid arthritis. She wanted to find if the medications changed the patients' ability to metabolize glucose.

The small study was based on data from nine patients who had taken the drug for a week. Researchers compared the results with 12 other patients who had taken the drug for a long time.

Steroids are used to fight inflammation and are given to people with asthma, inflammatory bowel disease.

Other research has shown that steroids raise the levels of sugar in blood, heart disease and obesity. But, Petersons' research shows that even low-dose steroids could raise the risk of diabetes.

"Low dose steroids are prescribed to about one per cent of the population but until now, no one has really studied the effect of low doses over a long period of time," Dr Petersons said in a news release. "Essentially what my research found is that a low dose of steroids - even after a week - increase the amount of glucose (sugar) your body makes when fasting."

In the U.S., the number of people being diagnosed with diabetes has increased from 5.6 million in 1980 to 26.9 million in 2010. Since low-dose steroids are prescribed for several conditions, understanding how the drugs could raise the risk of severe health complication could affect the way the medications are prescribed.

"Knowing how steroids affect insulin sensitivity in the body means we can find the right kind of treatment to target the underlying cause of the diabetes, but it also means we need to be more vigilant in screening patients so we don't miss people who have steroid-induced diabetes," she added.

The study is published in the journal Diabetes Care.