New results from a comprehensive childhood asthma study show suggest that children whose asthma improved while being on steroids for several years may not be able to see those improvements after stopping steroid use.

The study was published in the Journal of Pediatrics. The involved researchers found that children, now in their late teens, and on steroids during the trial displayed no differences in terms of asthma control with the children receiving placebo.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Inhaled corticosteroids such as budesonide have been shown to be the most effective form of anti-inflammatory treatment for asthma by controlling symptoms and improving pulmonary function. Results from the original CAMP trial showed that using budesonide twice daily led to fewer hospitalizations and urgent care visits, fewer days in which additional asthma medications were needed and a reduced need for albuterol, a fast-acting drug for relief of acute asthma symptoms. Using nedocromil twice daily reduced urgent care visits and courses of oral steroids for severe symptoms, but did not affect the number of hospitalizations, symptoms or airway responsiveness.

Although the patients had fewer symptoms five years after stopping the daily medication, Strunk cautions that doesn’t mean that they can stop using asthma medications altogether or that their asthma is cured.

Robert C. Strunk, M.D., a Washington University pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and lead author of the study, was of the view that as children with asthma get older, they start faring better in terms of asthma management as their airways get bigger.

The findings of this study are expected to offer great relief to asthmatic patients who have been fighting against this ailment for years.