Corticosteroids for asthma may suppress growth in children in first year of treatment, researchers say

Children with persistent asthma who are treated with daily inhaled corticosteroids may grow half a centimetre less during the first year of treatment, say two systematic reviews published in the Cochrane Library.1 2

“But this effect is less pronounced in subsequent years, is not cumulative, and seems minor compared to the known benefits of the drugs for controlling asthma and ensuring full lung growth,” said the lead author of one of the reviews, Linjie Zhang, of the Federal University of Rio Grande in …