Inhaled corticosteroid treatment and growth of asthmatic children seen at outpatient clinics.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the effect of inhaled corticosteroid use on gain in height and weight of asthmatic pediatric outpatients. METHODS: A one-year prospective cohort study was carried out with 124 asthmatic children aged 3 to 16 years who were prescribed inhaled corticosteroids for at least 12 months, evaluating z-scores for height/age, weight/age, body mass index and parental target height for current age. Exclusion criteria were birth weight less than 2,500 g, malnutrition, chronic diseases and systemic corticoid use for more than 7 consecutive days. RESULTS: The mean +/- standard deviation for z-scores for initial and final height/age were 0.06+/-1.2 and 0.01+/-1.2 (95%CI 0.05-0.11), respectively; for initial and final weight/age z-scores they were 0.6+/-1.5 and 0.5+/-1.5 (95%CI 1.84-6.6), respectively. These figures did not differ significantly (p = 0.199 and p = 0.808). There was also no loss in stature when children were stratified into well and poorly controlled asthma or into pubescent and non-pubescent groups. CONCLUSIONS: In comparison with the NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics) growth curves, there was no compromise to the height or body weight of children/adolescents using inhaled corticosteroids for more than 1 year at the doses recommended for asthma prevention.