High doses of inhaled corticosteroids are highly effective for reducing the severity and duration of asthma attacks triggered by colds, as per largest study of its kind on preschoolers

This study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine and was led by Dr. Francine Ducharme, assistant director of clinical research at the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center and a pediatrics professor at the Université de Montréal.

From News-Medical.Net:

The research team found that high doses of corticosteroids (fluticasone), when inhaled at the onset of a cold and taken for up to 10 days, reduces the number of moderate or severe asthma attacks that require emergency oral steroids. This is the first study whose findings clearly demonstrate the treatment’s efficacy in young children requiring oral corticosteroids or hospital admission because of the severity of this type of asthma attack.

The breakthrough is all the more important, since this age group represents more than half (60 percent) of children that go to emergency departments or are admitted to hospital for asthma attacks. Although viral-induced asthma is frequent in preschool-aged children, optimal management of this disease remains elusive. That’s why Dr. Ducharme has focused her research on improving treatment for asthmatic children, particularly those of preschool age.

The researchers are still confirming if children can make up for a slight growth retardation as the average growth rate of children treated with fluticasone, the corticosteroid, was 6.0 cm as compared to 6.5 cm of untreated children.