Study: Asthma Drugs Do Not Stunt Growth

B O S T O N, Oct. 11 -- Parents of children with asthma may be able to breathe a little easier.

Two new studies report that stunted growth seen in asthmatic children who use corticosteroid inhalers — a commonly prescribed treatment — is temporary and probably disappears by adulthood. Both studies are in the Oct. 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Previous research from the past decade found long-term use of this type of asthma medication can result in a 1 centimeter, or nearly a half an inch, loss of height in the first year of use. Such a finding left parents of children with mild asthma in a quandary about whether this side effect was worse than the ailment itself.

Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory childhood disease and is on the rise, affecting nearly 5 million U.S. children, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Childhood asthma results in 11 million missed school days and more than half a million trips to the emergency room annually.

Drugs Recommended, But Not Used

Corticosteroids (different than the performance-enhancing drugs athletes use) relieve asthma symptoms such as wheezing and coughing by reducing inflammation in the airways.

Although the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends either oral or nasally inhaled versions of corticosteroids as “the most effective long-term control medication for asthma,” a 1998 national survey on asthma found only one in five asthmatics had used either medication in the last month.

Doctors and parents have been reluctant to use corticosteroids, fearing that if this height loss continued each year, long-term use could stunt their child’s growth by as much as 4 to 6 centimeters, or 1 ½ to 2 ½ inches.

In 1998, the Food and Drug Administration made manufacturers of the drug place a label on all asthma corticosteroids informing users of this possible side effect. The agency also alerted doctors to monitor the growth of children using these medications.