Asthma is usually treated with inhaled corticosteroids to reduce airway inflammation and reactivity and help people breathe better. They are undeniably the first line treatment for this common and often dangerous condition. But two new reviews of randomized controlled trials show that drugs such as budesonide, fluticasone and mometasone are associated with growth retardation in children. During the first year of treatment, average annual growth rate was approximately one-half centimeter less in children on corticosteroid inhalers than in children on placebo or non-steroidal medications. This decrease is less noticeable in subsequent years, and the researchers conclude that it is negligible compared to the very important benefits of treating asthma effectively.
[The Cochrane Library, online July 17, 2014]
It is certainly important for both children and adults with asthma to be treated with effective medications. Not everyone with asthma responds equally well to inhaled corticosteroids, however. Those who find that their symptoms of coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing are not controlled well on such a regimen may want to consult Dr. David Hahn’s book, A Cure for Asthma? What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You–and Why (published by People’s Pharmacy Press). In it, Dr. Hahn puts forth the evidence that some apparent cases of asthma are actually reactions to a smoldering lung infection. Long-term antibiotic treatment may clear the infection and the symptoms, so that inhaled corticosteroids are no longer needed every day.
