Steroid-Induced Fractures and Bone Loss in Patients with Asthma

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Abstract
To study the association between bone disease and long-term steroid administration in asthmatics, we reviewed the hospital records of 128 patients over 40 years of age who had taken daily or alternate-day adrenal corticosteroids for at least a year and compared them with the records of 54 other asthmatics of similar age who had not required long-term administration of steroids. We found evidence in the records of a total of 58 fractures of the ribs or vertebrae in 14 of the patients who had received long-term steroid treatment (11 per cent) and no evidence of fractures in the patients who had not received long-term treatment.