Does intermittent corticosteroid treatment affect mortality compared to continuous daily treatment in patients with chronic asthma?
Intermittent corticosteroid treatment in chronic asthma does not appear to increase mortality or peptic ulceration compared to continuous daily treatment at a comparable annual dose.
Chronic Asthma-Walsh and Grant BDI& 'jSRNAL mittent treatment than with continuous (daily) treatment given in a comparable mean annual dose. The incidence of suspected and proved peptic ulceration was approximately the same in the two treatment groups. Sixteen patients (6%) died, seven from status asthmaticus and nine from other causes. The deaths from status asthmaticus were probably due to failure to increase the dose of corticosteroid when acute symptoms super- vened. The death rate was no higher in patients on intermittent treatment regimens than in those given corticosteroids every day.
Merrett et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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