Asthma medications could stunt children’s growth

Inhaled corticosteroids may cause children with mild to moderate persistent asthma to stop growing, by up to half a centimeter, during the first year of treatment, a pair of new studies finds. This effect was not cumulative over ensuing years, and researchers believe lowering the dosage may contribute to minimal side-effects, Medical Daily reported.

Asthma is one of the most common chronic ailments that kids face. To offset the swelling found in the body’s airways, which prevent the lungs from filling with air, people turn to an inhaler. The device delivers anti-inflammatory medicine directly into a person’s respiratory system, calming the inflamed tubes and letting breathing resume.

“This is a matter of major concern given the importance of this topic," Francine Ducharme, co-author and researcher at the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Montreal, said in a statement. "We recommend that the minimal effective dose be used in children with asthma until further data on doses becomes available.”

Ducharme and her colleagues performed two separate reviews. The first involved 8,471 children up to 18 years old with mild to moderate asthma. The trials looked at all but one available corticosteroid, each one showing a marked suppression of subjects’ growth rates over the first year. This was with daily treatment, which amounted to kids growing roughly half a centimeter shorter than the annual average of six to nine centimeters.

The effects, in other words, may not be compelling enough to quit asthma treatment altogether. The smartest course of action is taking only the minimum dose required.

This conclusion came from the second review the team conducted. Researchers found that lowering doses by one puff per day tended to boost growth rates by a quarter of a centimeter per year.

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