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Abstract: Purpose: Very little is known about oral glucocorticoids (GCs) prescriptions in general population. Methods: Data of UK adult patients registered between January 1989 and December 2008 with general practices contributing to The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database were analyzed. We identified all patients aged 18years and older who received at least one oral GCs prescription. Short-term treatments (i.e., <3months) were differentiated from long term (i.e., ≥3months) ones. Demographical data of patients being prescribed such treatments and reason for prescriptions over the 20years were described. The annual prevalence of GCs prescriptions was assessed. Results: The study population consisted of 4,518,753 adult patients (26,035,154 person-years of follow-up). Overall, 810,009 oral GCs treatments (220,195,154 person-years of follow-up) were prescribed in 384,897 patients. Over the 20years, the mean prevalence of oral GCs prescriptions was 0.85% [0.84–0.85], increasing from 0.65% [0.57–0.74] in 1989 to 0.91% [0.90–0.93] in 2008. Short-term therapies (median duration of prescription: 9days [6–10], median cumulative prednisone equivalent (PE) dosage: 210mg [150–420]) represented 79.3% of treatments and 11.9% of prevalence whereas it was the opposite for long term prescriptions (median duration of prescription: 215days [126–490], median cumulative PE dosage: 2000mg [950–4310]). Women were more prescribed GCs. Median age at first GCs prescription was 56.1years [39.4–70.4] and 67.4years [54.0–76.8] for short-term and long-term therapies, respectively. Reasons for prescription were mainly pulmonary diseases. Conclusion: About 1% of the UK general population receives GCs therapy in any point of time. This prevalence has constantly increased over the last 20years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Competing Interests: Intérêts concurrents : Liam Smeeth déclare des subventions de la Wellcome Trust, du Medical Research Council, du National Institute for Health Research, de GlaxoSmithKline, de la British Heart Foundation et du Diabetes UK en dehors du travail soumis et siège au conseil d’administration de la British Heart Foundation. Katie Harron et Sinéad Langan déclarent des subventions de Wellcome Trust pendant que le travail soit mené. Henrik Sørensen déclare que le Département d’épidémiologie clinique de l’université d’Aarhus prend partie à des études financées par des subventions de recherche accordées à l’université par diverses firmes et administrées par celle-ci. Les autres auteurs n’ont aucun conflit d’intérêt à déclarer.