Alternate day prednisone treatment may increase kidney transplant rejection.

A retrospective study has been done to determine whether alternate day prednisone and daily prednisone are equally safe. A statistically significant increase in the number of rejection episodes are measured by rises in serum creatinine occurred in the alternate day steroid group. The reasons for the difference may rest in the inherent mechanism of steroid action. The use of alternate day prednisone in transplantation should be reserved for the situations where the potential benefit clearly outweighs the risk of loss of the transplanted kidney.