The British Journal of Psychiatry 138: 504-506 (1981)
© 1981 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Psychiatric effects of alternate day steroid therapy
C Cordess, M Folstein and D Drachman
The prevalence of emotional disorder in a total of 72 patients suffering
from myasthenia gravis of from peripheral neuromuscular disorders was
assessed, using the General Health Questionnaire and Present State
Examination. Approximately half the patients were being treated with an
alternate day regime of prednisone, receiving high dosage one day and low
the next. Emotional disorder was found to be less prevalent among these
patients than among patients not on steroids. The significance of the
finding is discussed.