[Corticosteroid therapy in atopic diseases of children? (author's transl)].

Of 416 children suffering from different atopic diseases who were admitted as in-patients in a German aero-biological childrens clinic, 69.2% had previously received corticosteroid therapy. According to dermatological findings, 81.9% of these patients developed undesirable side effects. Of the children whose atopic dermatitis was treated prolonged with topical corticosteroids, also irreversible body changes developed through the transcutaneous absorptive processes, which were more evident and appeared more often in girls than in boys.