Long-term effects were assessed by the total amount

of prednisolone, duration to achieve <20 mg/day of prednisolone, and duration of sustained remission (defined as no relapse). Major adverse effects caused by steroids, including diabetes mellitus, peptic ulcers, infections, bone fractures, and psychiatric symptoms were recorded. These adverse effects were defined by the following criteria: diabetes mellitus; use of anti-diabetic medication, peptic ulcer; based on positive endoscopic findings, infection; requiring medication, bone fracture; induced by steroids including vertebra fracture and femoral neck fracture, psychiatric symptoms; requiring medication, and hypertension; systolic blood pressure >140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure >90 mmHg or

the initiation of APR-246 supplier antihypertensive medication. Statistical analysis Data are expressed as the mean ± standard Selleckchem Alpelisib deviation. Statistical analyses were performed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s post find more hoc test. Chi-squared tests were used for comparisons between categorical variables. Remission curves were evaluated by Kaplan–Meier method. A possible predictor of the LOS after the treatment, durations of remission, and major adverse effects were tested by multivariate analysis. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS statistics 19 (IBM) or Stat-View J version 5.0 (SAS institute Inc). Values of P < 0.05 were considered significant. Results Patient characteristics From 53 patients with MCNS identified in the initial screening, we selected 46 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria of this study and divided them into learn more three groups according to the treatment regimen. The clinical characteristics of patients in the three groups are shown in Table 2. No significant differences were observed in any of the parameters examined. The mean dose of cyclosporine required to maintain the

whole-blood trough level between 50 and 150 ng/ml was 118 ± 30 mg/day (range 50 and 200 mg/day) during the first 6 months of treatment. The average doses of prednisolone initiated immediately after MPT were 30.0 ± 0.0 and 39.0 ± 6.3 mg/day in Groups 1 and 2, respectively. The initial dose of prednisolone in Group 3 was 47.9 ± 7.0 mg/day. The dose of prednisolone was tapered by 5–10 mg every 4–8 weeks. No significant differences were observed in the average doses of prednisolone at discharge among three groups (27.9 ± 3.6 mg/day in Group 1; 30.7 ± 4.6 mg/day in Group 2; 30.4 ± 1.3 mg/day in Group 3; P = 0.062). Table 2 Patients characteristics Characteristic Group 1 (n = 17) Group 2 (n = 15) Group 3 (n = 14) P value Age at diagnosis (years) 37 ± 18 37 ± 16 39 ± 19 0.949 Sex (male:female) 8:9 9:6 9:5 0.596 Body mass index 25.2 ± 5.1 23.7 ± 3.2 22.7 ± 3.4 0.247 Selectivity index 0.12 ± 0.05 0.13 ± 0.10 0.13 ± 0.05 0.890 Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) 119 ± 17 120 ± 17 122 ± 13 0.866 Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) 73 ± 11 78 ± 11 74 ± 11 0.419 Body weight (kg) 67 ± 17 65 ± 13 63 ± 13 0.