Effects of inhaled corticosteroids on growth in asthmatic children.

This article presents a brief review of the effects of inhaled corticosteroids on growth in children with asthma. All currently available inhaled corticosteroids, where there is adequate data, have been shown to cause significant growth suppression in children in a dose-dependent manner. It is now apparent that there are differences in the growth-suppressive effects of different corticosteroids. Recent evidence confirms that the growth-suppressive effects are short lived and that, at conventional doses, inhaled corticosteroids do not affect final attained adult height.