British Endocrine Societies Joint Meeting 2002
Harrogate, UK
08 April 2002 - 11 April 2002
British Endocrine Societies
Bone mineral density of asthmatic children after long term treatment with inhaled corticosteroids
Paediatric Department, General Hospital of Nikea, Piraeus, Greece.
INTRODUCTION
Twelve prepubertal children (7 boys and 5 girls) who had been continuously using I.C.S. for at least 3 to 5 years in a prescribed dose of at least 500-800 micrograms per day were included in the study. Age ranged from 4 to 11 years. Duration of I.C.S. treatment ranged from 3 to 5 years. 20 children of the same population were used as controls. Bone mineral density (B.M.D.) of the lumbar spine (L2-L4) was measured by Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (D.E.X.A.)
RESULTS
Bone mineral density did not reveal significant statistical difference between the study and control group. (Table I)
B.M.D. g/cm2
Patients n=12 Controls n=20
0,802±0,225 0,832±0,209 p>0,05
CONCLUSION
Children with asthma who had been on a daily I.G.S. dosage of 500-800 micrograms for 3 to 5 years had normal B.M.D. values as their healthy controls. Long term longitudinal studies are needed to investigate whether these children attain a normal peak bone mass.
Endocrine Abstracts 3 P2