Treatment with inhaled corticosteroids improves pulmonary function in children under 2 years old with risk factors for asthma.
OBJECTIVE
To report on recent studies on the effect of inhaled corticosteroids on pulmonary function in young children with asthma.


RESULTS
Inhaled corticosteroids are considered the most effective treatment for persistent asthma in children. Appropriate control of childhood asthma may prevent more serious disease or irreversible obstruction in later years. While some authors have described an improvement with the use of inhaled corticosteroids in young children, others found no clinical or functional benefit. Various studies have shown that inhaled corticosteroids ameliorate clinical outcomes, and recently a study demonstrated improvement in pulmonary function in young children with asthma. The use of different study designs may explain the lack of consistent results and disagreement regarding the efficacy of inhaled corticosteroids in these patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on the preponderance of evidence, treatment with inhaled corticosteroids in infants and young children with recurrent wheeze and risk factors of developing asthma appears to allow better control of the illness and improve the pulmonary function.
Teper
Alejandro Manuel
AM
Respiratory Center, Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutiérrez, Buenos Aires, Argentina. ateper@intramed.net
Kofman
Carlos Daniel
CD