Comparison of two protocols for steroid pulse therapy in patients with IgA nephropathy: a retrospective observational study

BACKGROUND: Steroid pulse (SP) therapy is one of the immunosuppressive therapies for immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). Although there are various protocols of SP therapy in IgAN, the intermittent SP (ISP) and consecutive SP (CSP) protocols are prevalently performed in clinical settings. However, there is a lack of evidence of comparisons of the effects on IgAN between these two protocols. METHODS: A total of 189 patients with IgAN who had received SP therapy were included in this study. They were divided into two groups according to the SP protocols into the intermittent SP (ISP) or consecutive SP (CSP) group as follows: ISP; three-times SP therapy in alternate months, CSP; three-times SP therapy in three consecutive weeks. Kidney function, remission of urinary findings, and side effects of SP therapy were compared between the two groups. The observational period was 12 months after the initiation of SP therapy. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in kidney function between the two groups during the observational period. The remission rate of proteinuria and hematuria at 12 months also did not significantly differ between the two groups. Furthermore, even after the adjustment of clinical characteristics using propensity score matching, the remission rate of proteinuria and hematuria at 12 months was similar between the two groups. At 2 months, the remission rate of proteinuria was significantly higher in the CSP group than in the ISP group. There were no critical side effects in both groups. CONCLUSION: The effects of SP therapy on IgAN were similar between the ISP and CSP group at 12 months although CSP therapy could remit proteinuria faster than ISP therapy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12882-022-02791-x.