Short corticosteroid course post asthma attack analyzed
The potential risk of an asthma attack relapse can be reduced to a significant extent by administering a short corticosteroid course after patients are discharged from the hospital, according to a Cochrane Systematic Review.
Carol Spooner, a colleague, said that this systematic review strongly endorses the use of systematic corticosteroids for treating outpatients after getting them discharged from the hospital on the event of an attack.
From News-Medical.Net:
This updated finding was drawn after reviewing data in six trials that together involved 374 people.
Between 12% and 16% of people who are discharged from hospital after having an asthma attack have a relapse within two weeks. “There is considerable debate about the best way of treating people who have asthma attacks, including the dose, method of delivery and timing of delivery of corticosteroids. Our research found clear evidence that people who arrived at a hospital with acute asthma and were well enough to be discharged benefited from the addition of corticosteroid therapy,” says lead author Professor Brian Rowe, who works at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada.
It was also noted that administration of steroids is also useful for reducing need of inhalers besides prolonging related benefits for a period of three weeks.
Tags: asthma, asthma attack, corticosteroids, Steroids
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