The goal of this clinical trial is to compare the efficacy and safety of short-term versus 6-week prednisone in the treatment of moderate-to-severe subacute thyroiditis. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does the short-term medication regimen reduce glucocorticoid side effects while achieving similar efficacy as the guideline treatment group? Patients with moderate-to-severe symptoms were randomly assigned to receive either 30 mg/day prednisone for 1 week, followed by 1 week of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or the conventional 6-week prednisone therapy in the control group.

This is an open-label, randomized, controlled, and multicenter trial. Patients with moderate-to-severe symptoms were randomly assigned to receive either 20 and 10 mg prednisone in the morning and afternoon, respectively, daily for 1 week; in the second week, these participants received 400 mg celecoxib on day 1 and 200 mg twice daily for the remaining 6 days until celecoxib withdrawal or 20 and 10 mg prednisone in the morning and afternoon, respectively, daily in the first week, and then reduced by 5 mg/week from the second week until withdrawal in the sixth week. The primary endpoint was intergroup differences in treatment efficacy at the end of the treatment course. Secondary endpoints included between-group differences in post-withdrawal adverse effect parameters and thyroid function at weeks 6, 12, and 24.

Inclusion Criteria:

• We enrolled adult patients (age 18-70) with Subacute Thyroiditis (SAT) scores ≥3 points. SAT was diagnosed on the basis of diagnostic criteria. The severity of SAT was scored as follows: fever - none, <38℃, and >38℃ (0, 1, and 2 points, respectively); tenderness - none, mild, and severe (0, 1, and 2 points, respectively); goiter by ultrasonography or palpation - none and yes (0 and 1 point, respectively); and ESR - normal, 25-60 mm/h, and >60 mm/h (0, 1, and 2 points, respectively).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients who were diagnosed with diabetes, an active peptic ulcer, benign and malignant tumors, hepatic dysfunction, recurrent SAT, and already on glucocorticoid therapy were excluded within 3 months.