Abstract
This Practice Point commentary discusses the findings of a prospective study by Kelly et al. that evaluated the effect of multiple short courses of oral corticosteroids and use of inhaled corticosteroids on bone accrual in children with asthma. The researchers determined the cumulative number of short courses of oral corticosteroids and the cumulative dose of inhaled corticosteroids over a 7-year study period. Multiple short courses of oral corticosteroids in boys, but not girls, were a dose-dependent risk factor for decreased bone-mineral accrual and osteopenia. Inhaled corticosteroid use in boys, but not girls, was also associated with decreased bone accrual, but the association was not dose-dependent. However, no effect of corticosteroids on fracture risk was found. Here, I discuss the relevance of these findings in relation to attainment of peak bone mass and outline how the findings could be complicated by disease-related effects of asthma on bone health.
References
Kelly HW et al. (2008) Effect of long-term corticosteroid use on bone mineral density in children: a prospective longitudinal assessment in the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) study. Pediatrics 122: e53–e61
Gafni RI and Baron J (2007) Childhood bone mass acquisition and peak bone mass may not be important determinants of bone mass in late adulthood. Pediatrics 119 (Suppl 2): S131–S136
Gafni RI et al. (2002) Recovery from osteoporosis through skeletal growth: early bone mass acquisition has little effect on adult bone density. FASEB J 16: 736–738
Whiting SJ et al. (2004) Factors that affect bone mineral accrual in the adolescent growth spurt. J Nutr 134: 696S–700S
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holm, I. Do short courses of oral corticosteroids and use of inhaled corticosteroids affect bone health in children?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 5, 132–133 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpendmet1072
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpendmet1072
- Springer Nature Limited