Objective To investigate the determinants of health care utilization and costs with use of glucocorticoid (GC) drugs among adult systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Methods This cross-sectional study analyzed established SLE patients identified by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes from a large US insurance claims database in 2007–2011. Five patient groups were defined by their oral GC use during a 1-year period: non-GC users, 7.5 to ≤15 mg/day), or higher dosage (>15 mg/day). Annual health care utilization and costs were compared across these groups. Incremental costs of GC groups, calculated as the difference in total health care costs compared with those of the non-GC group, were estimated from multivariable regressions adjusting for demographic/clinical characteristics and stratified by concomitant immunosuppressant use. Results A total of 50,230 SLE patients were identified (52% non-GC users, 20%
