Objective To observe the effects of combined therapy of different doses of glucocorticoids(GC) on clinical symptoms and erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR) in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. Methods 90 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis admitted to our hospital were selected as subjects. According to the GC dose, they were divided into high dose group(n=30, given high dose of prednisolone+methotrexate+leflunomide), middle dose group(n=30, middle dose of prednisolone+methotrexate+leflunomide) and low dose group(n=30, given low dose of prednisolone+ methotrexate+leflunomide). The clinical symptoms, inflammatory factors levels and adverse reactions were observed and compared. Results After treatment, the tender joint count, joint swelling count and DAS28 score in the three groups were decreased in turn according to the order of low dose, middle dose and high dose(P<0.05), and the above indexes after treatment in high dose group were lower than those in middle dose group and low dose group(P<0.05). After treatment, the levels of ESR, RF, CRP and IL-6 in the three groups were decreased in turn according to the order of low dose, middle dose and high dose(P<0.05), and the above inflammatory factors indexes after treatment in high dose group were lower than those in middle dose group and low dose group(P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence rate of adverse reactions among high dose group, middle dose group and low dose group [23.33% (7/30) vs 20.00% (6/30) vs 16.67% (5/30)](P>0.05). Conclusion High dose GC drugs have better antiinflammatory effects, and they can quickly and effectively reduce joint inflammatory reactions in patients with early RA, and it will not increase the adverse reactions.