Asthma meds in infancy leads to stunted growth, study reveals

Asthma in children can be treated by avoiding triggers such as smoke and dust, using medications like inhaled steroids, and keeping an eye on symptoms. However, it looks like the asthma medication should be halted as a new study discovers that the use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) may lead to slow growth in infants and young children.

Medical News Today reports that based on the study conducted by the University of Finland and Kuopio University Hospital, long-term use of inhaled corticosteroids, a commonly prescribed asthma treatment, can reduce the growth rate of infants if they are treated with the medication before the age of two. The findings, which were presented at the yearly European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology meeting in Spain, challenged the current guidelines recommending infants to use inhaled corticosteroids if there is recurring wheezing. If it only occurs once or twice, oral corticosteroids should be used.

Dr. Antti Saari, the lead researcher of the study, explains that most experts loosely follow the guidelines. There has been an ongoing debate that these supposedly asthma attacks below one or two years should not even be considered as asthma thus should never be treated with corticosteroids. Furthermore, the findings only strengthen the link between long-term ICS use in infants below two years old and stunted growth, something that has been looked into before by previous studies.

University Herald adds that the researchers analyzed the information they obtained from 12,000 Finnish children between the ages of zero to two. The data include asthma medications used by the patients, height together with the heights of their parents, and weight. These were then compared to the data of infants who never received any ICS treatment such as fluticasone and budesonide.

As a result, long-term use of ICS has been directly linked to stunted growth and loss of growth potential in later years, leading to a shorter height when they reach adulthood. The researchers believe this could highlight the importance of using inhaled corticosteroids properly during infancy. Furthermore, the findings can help experts become aware of taking extra caution when diagnosing and prescribing asthma and its treatment.

One out of eleven children is suffering from asthma, making one of the most common medical conditions among children, BBC News writes. Jonathan Grigg, a professor and honorary adviser to the British Lung Foundation, states further studies should be conducted on a much larger group to further explore the relationship of asthma and stunted growth.

What more, director of research and policy of Asthma UK, Dr. Samantha Walker, believes that ICS treatment is crucial in the control of asthma thus impact on height should be considered as relatively minor. She explains that no parents should worry about the height of their kids if their health is at risk.