Asthma treatment and growth

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Abstract
There is little doubt that oral corticosteroids such as prednisolone can have a detrimental effect on growth. Martin et al,2 in a prospective survey over 14 years, showed that children who had received oral steroids were significantly shorter than either asthmatic children who had not received steroids or non-asthmatic controls. However, this difference in height was only seen at age 14 years, and no difference was apparent by 21 years, indicating that the main effect of oral corticosteroids was to cause growth delay and affect the timing of puberty. The degree of growth retardation has been clearly linked to the frequency of oral corticosteroid use.3 However, there is also evidence that adult height can be permanently reduced in some children who have received long term oral corticosteroids for asthma.4