Comparison of eight-week and twelve-week corticosteroid treatment regimens in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome; A clinical trial

Introduction: nephrotic syndrome (ns) is the commonest chronic glomerular disease in children. idiopathic ns can perfectly be controlled using corticosteroids in most instances, but a significant relapse rate of ns is still a major problem. several treatment protocols are suggested to decrease relapse rate of ns in children.objectives: the current clinical trial aimed at comparing the relapse rate between two 8- and 12-week steroid treatment regimens.patients and methods: in the current non-randomized, clinical trial, a total of 68 children with primary ns were enrolled. oral prednisolone was administered to 34 patients for eight weeks (2 mg/kg/d and 1.5 mg/kg/alternate-day/each for four weeks) and other 34 patients for 12 weeks (2 mg/kg/d and 1.5 mg/kg/alternate-day/each for six weeks). a one-year follow-up was completed for all the patients to evaluate relapse rate, steroid resistance, and steroid dependence.results: the remission rates were 47.1% and 73.5%, respectively in children of the eight- and 12-week treatment groups because the difference was significant (p=0.026). the frequent relapse rates in the eight- and 12-week treatment groups were respectively 26.5% and 11.8%. steroid dependence rate was 17.6% and 8.8% in the eight- and 12-week treatment groups respectively. the steroid resistance rates were respectively 8.8% and 5.9% in the eight- and 12-week treatment groups.conclusion: twelve-week steroid treatment can significantly decrease the relapse rate in comparison with eight-week treatment because no significant difference in steroid resistance, steroid dependence, and frequent relapse between the two treatment protocols was observed.trial registration: this study was approved by iranian registry of clinical trials (identifier: irct201404269014n33; https://www.irct.ir/trial/9472)