Inhalers could be stunting their growth, and parents may not even realize it.
It’s not the first time a study has shown some negative impacts due to inhalers, with a 2012 probe finding that adults who had used steroid inhalers between the ages of five and 12 tended to be a half inch shorter than they would be otherwise.
As a result of the study, all children should get checked for their height and weight if they are taking the inhalers, according to a BBC report.
About one in 11 children in the United Kingdom has asthma — that makes it one of the most common medical conditions a child may face.
Corticosteroids are fairly strong medications, and they work in preventing potentially fatal asthma attacks in children, although many report side effects.
In all, children may see their height stunted by about 3 centimeters in adulthood based on the results of this study.
It’s difficult for the medical community to determine who to target for steroids and in whom it doesn’t work much at all. Many pre-school children wheeze but not all respond to such treatment from corticosteroids. Many also eventually grow out of asthma and don’t need any additional treatment, and a larger study will be necessary involving multiple types of young children to get to the bottom of that question.
Of course, parents should still err on the side of caution: if your child is wheezing or having difficulty breathing from apparent asthma symptoms, their first concern should not be the child’s growth. Take him or her to a doctor immediately, and recognize that asthma medications could save his or her life, doctors say.
Asthma is a very common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that often results in airflow obstruction and bronchopasm, making it a potentially deadly disease for sufferers. Scientists don’t have all the answers for why asthma exists and what its root cause are, but it is thought to come from a combination of genetic as well as environmental factors.
Doctors typically diagnose asthma based on a number of symptoms, as well as how the patient responds to therapy and spirometry, which is a common pulmonary function tests that measures lung function and the amount of air and the speed of air that can be inhaled and exhaled.
Asthma symptoms include wheezing, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest cavity, and fits of coughing that may produce sputum from the lung. High levels of white blood cells called eosinophils may cause the sputum from the lung to look like it is pus, but it is not. Symptoms for asthma seem to be the worst at night or in the early morning, or in response to some strenuous physical activity. Sometimes it can also be brought on by exposure to cold air.
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