The development of major side effects observed during steroid therapy was statistically evaluated on 266 leukemic patients admitted to Hiraki clinic from 1954 to 1964.
These patients were devided into 2 groups, one treated with stercid, the other treated without steroid.
1) The incidence of infection was 27.7% in the steroid group, while it was 15.0% in the non steroid group. The incidence of mycosis was 7.3% in the steroid group, being 4.3 times that of non-steroid group.
2) The incidence of gastrointestinal ulcer was 7.3% in the steroid group, while it was 1.7% in the non steroid group.
3) The incidence of diabetes mellitus and psychiatric disturbances was observed only in the steroid group.
These results indicated that infection, especially mycosis, gastrointestinal ulcer, diabetes mellitus and psychiatric disorders were to be regarded as iatrogenic diseases during the steroid therapy of leukemia.