OCS usage
All OCS prescriptions were converted into prednisolone-equivalent doses (equivalences available in Online Supplement Table E1 ). We calculated the number of OCS prescriptions and accumulated daily dose per OCS-user. All individuals in the study population were classified annually by their respective cumulative OCS consumption within the given calendar year, categorized in three exposure groups (21);
  1. a no-use group
  2. a low-use group, defined by use of <1825 mg in the given year, corresponding to <5 mg OCS/day (not including 0 use), and
  3. a high-use group, corresponding to ≥5 mg OCS/day