asthma

Which Corticosteroids Best Reduce Asthma Relapse Risk?

Treatment with systemic corticosteroid (SCS) regimens can help to reduce relapse in children following treatment for acute asthma, according to a recent review.

In order to compare the effectiveness of various SCS regimens for the mitigation of relapse in children with asthma following treatment in an acute care setting researchers collected data from 15 randomized controlled studies.
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Overall, a network analysis identified a significant reduction in relapse in children treated with intramuscular corticosteroids (odds ratio [OR] 0.038) short-course oral prednisone (OR 0.054) and oral dexamethasone (OR 0.071) compared with placebo.

“This review found evidence that SCSs reduce relapse in children following treatment for acute asthma, albeit based on a limited number of studies. Additional studies are required to assess the differential effect of SCS doses and treatment duration to prevent relapse in children following discharge for acute asthma,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Kirkland SW, Vandermeer B, Campbell S, et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of systemic corticosteroids to mitigate relapse in children assessed and treated for acute asthma: A network meta-analysis [published online April 25, 2018]. Journal of Asthma. https://doi.org/10.1080/02770903.2018.1467444.