Studies: When kids wheeze, steroids don't help

BEIJING, Jan.22 (Chinese medianet)-- Giving

steroids to children who are wheezing because of viral or other infections does

not help, according to studiesin the New England Journal of Medicine as

quoted by media Thursday.

These studies showan experimental treatment

designed to prevent wheezing may be effective, but it seems to pose too many

risks to be recommended.

About one-third of preschool children develop

wheezing, which can worry parents in the United Kingdom. At least 75 percent

outgrow the problem by age 6. In the past, doctors have treated it as they would

asthma, which is why they often use corticosteroids.

"It is clear that on the basis of these two studies,

current practice must change," Dr. Andrew Bush of the Imperial School of

Medicine and Royal Brompton Hospital in London wrote in a commentary.

Dr. Jonathan Grigg of Queen Mary University in London

and colleagues found that children given five days of the steroid prednisolone

stayed just as long in hospital as children given a placebo. They tested nearly

700 children aged 10 months to 5 years old.

Nor was there any difference in their symptoms over

the next seven days, Grigg's team reported.

"If your child is very sick, it doesn't mean you

shouldn't give oral steroids. But in the general run of things, for most kids at

home or presenting to their doctor with moderate wheezing that doesn't require

many days in the hospital, steroids are not going to be of any benefit," Grigg

told media.

"I would have loved for steroids to work," Grigg

added.

However, Grigg said thatthe result "does fit

into the general perception that preschool wheeze is very different from attacks

of allergic asthma in older children and adults."

(Agencies)