Drugs Used in Asthma Inhalers Make Children Half a Centimeter Shorter than Peers

New research suggests that inhaled corticosteroids, drugs given to people suffering from asthma, can suppress growth in children in the first year of the treatment.

Two study reviews, conducted by researchers at Federal University of Rio Grande in Rio Grande, Brazil, and colleagues shows that inhaled corticosteroids can affect growth rates of children.

The research findings shouldn't be a cause for concern though because the drugs led to a reduction of just 0.5 cm and was mostly seen only in the first year of treatment.

According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, asthma is a chronic lung condition. The condition is associated with chest tightening, wheezing and coughing. Steroids are often used to treat the condition. In the U.S, about 6.8 million children suffer from asthma.

"The evidence we reviewed suggests that children treated daily with inhaled corticosteroids may grow approximately half a centimetre less during the first year of treatment," said lead author of the review, Linjie Zhang, who is based at the Faculty of Medicine at the Federal University of Rio Grande in Rio Grande, Brazil, according to a news release. "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."

The first review was based on data from 25 trials involving 8,471. Participants were up to 18 years of age and had mild to moderate asthma. About 14 of these trials, with a total of 5,717 children had data on growth rates of the children. Researchers found that on an average, growth rate of participants in the control group was 6 to 9 centimeter per year. Test participants registered a slightly lower growth rate; their height was reduced by about 0.5 cm.

The second study review included 22 trials in which children were treated with low or medium doses of the corticosteroids. Researchers found that using lower doses of the drug was effective in maintaining normal growth pattern in children with asthma.

Researchers said that more long-term trials are needed to study the effect of drug dosage on growth rates of young asthma patients.

The study is published in the journal Cochrane Library.