NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Long-term use ofsteroids, a mainstay of asthma treatment, can cause bone thinningin children with the disease, new research shows, but the effect isless pronounced with inhaled steroids than with oral ones. Thisside effect was noted only in boys, not in girls.

Previous research has documented the adverse effects of bothoral and inhaled steroids on bone thickness in adults, but littleis known about consequences of their use in children, Dr. H.William Kelly and colleagues note in the journal Pediatrics.

Kelly, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and hisgroup followed 531 boys and 346 girls enrolled in the ChildhoodAsthma Management Program.

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