Endocrine response to substitution of corticotrophin for oral prednisolone in asthmatic children.

The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis has been assessed in 17 asthmatic children before and after long-term prednisolone therapy was changed to daily corticotrophin. In 14 of the 17 children the plasma corticosteroid concentration exceeded 15 mug/100 ml within five days of starting corticotrophin. No exacerbation of asthmatic symptoms occurred during conversion. The plasma corticosteroid response to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia was normal in four children about six weeks after conversion to corticotrophin, took up to 36 months to become normal in nine, and remained abnormal in one child throughout the period of the trial.