Inhaled Corticosteroids Control Childhood Asthma

Two major studies have confirmed that long-term use of an inhaled corticosteroid to treat childhood asthma effectively controls the disorder with few side effects, including no long-term impact on growth. The studies were published in the October 12 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

One study examined the effect of long-term treatment with inhaled corticosteroid budesonide on final adult height. It found that after a mean of 9.2 years of treatment as a mean daily dose of 412 mcg, there was no correlation between the duration of treatment or cumulative dose of budesonide and the difference between the measured and target adult heights.

Another study, sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and involving more than 1,000 children over a four-to-six-year period, corroborated the findings of the first study. This study also concluded that an inhaled corticosteroid provided better asthma control than either placebo or nedocromil, a nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drug. Compared to childen in the placebo group, children taking the inhaled corticosteroid had a 43% lower rate of hospitalization, used less albuterol, and had more days without asthma episodes.

"Inhaled corticosteroids are a key component of proper asthma management and have important benefits when used daily as a long-term preventive medication for persistent asthma, even mild persistent asthma,” said Martha White, M.D., director of research at the Institute for Asthma and Allergy at the Washington Hospital Center (DC, USA).