Daily inhalers questioned
Tuesday February 15th, 2011
Children treated with corticosteroid inhalers for asthma might safely revert to using them on an emergency basis, experts said today.
Reducing
the use of the drugs might also help children avoid the side effects -
of reduced growth, according to a study published in The Lancet.
Usually children are told to use their inhalers twice daily to prevent symptoms of asthma.
The latest analysis suggests the risk of attacks is only slightly increased when children simply rely on inhalers for emergencies.
However the small number of children in the study, 288, is likely to cause concern because of the risk of dangerous complications of attacks.
The research took place at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA, and involved the use of placebos to replace the corticosteroid beclomethasone - so that children thought they were taking daily inhalations with emergency treatments.
One group of children simply used the emergency drug albuterol, <!known as >a short-acting beta agonist, without corticosteroids. These suffered a 23 per cent rate of treatment failure.
This compared with an 8.5 per cent failure rate among children who also had the corticosteroid in their rescue treatment - and a three per cent failure rate for those who did not have placebos.
Researcher Professor Fernando Martinez says using corticosteroids only for "rescue" treatment could be an alternative approach for mild, persistent asthma.
Writing in the journal Dr William Checkley, of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, writes: "The results of this trial, however, suggest that step-down from daily inhaled corticosteroids to such treatment as rescue in combination with rescue short-acting beta agonists could be an effective step-down strategy for patients with mild persistent asthma."
Tags: Allergies & Asthma | Child Health | North America | Pharmaceuticals
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