Infant use of asthma medication linked to stunted growth

A recent study has suggested that giving asthma medications to infants during the first two years of their age could probably stunt their growth in later years of their lives.

Guidelines recommend that, among infants, inhaled corticosteroids are only used to treat recurrent wheezing. “The longitudinal impact of these medications is not clear and we would therefore like to investigate this further”. Data were attained on their height and weight measurements together with the heights of their parents and drug purchases from their birth until the age of 24 months.

“Our research shows a link between long-term treatment of ICS [inhaled corticosteroids] during infancy and stunted growth at or after the age of 2 in otherwise healthy children”, Dr. Saari concludes.

Pulmicort is used to prevent asthma attacks by decreasing irritation and swelling in the airways, which helps to control or prevent asthma symptoms. In young pre-school children who wheeze, it is unclear which ones should be targeted with steroids.

Researchers from Kuopio College Hospital and College of Jap Finland studied 12,000 Finnish infants and cautioned the steroids shouldn’t be utilized in pre-faculty youngsters. The medication is said to reduce symptoms effectively among infants and preschool-age children. It is a tricky situation as asthma is a high-risk health condition and children require more attention in case of asthma.

Jonathan Grigg, honorary medical adviser to the British Lung Foundation and professor of paediatric respiratory medicine at Queen Mary University London, said treating very young children who were wheezing was not easy. He informed that his team is yet to figure out who responds to steroid treatment in this group. The impact was stronger on children who were given asthma medication for more than six months.

Asthma is manageable but, with more than one person a week dying from it in Ireland and thousands more hospitalised, it is vital everyone with asthma takes their medication as prescribed, the spokesperson added.

“According to our research, we could only assess the impact of inhaled corticosteroids on growth in infancy until 2 to 3 years of age”.

Dr Samantha Walker, of Asthma United Kingdom, said: “The study confirms other research suggesting ICS used in infancy can interfere with bone growth, although the impact is relatively minor”.