Beclomethasone dipropionate and chronic asthma. The effect of long-term aerosol administration on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis after substitution for oral therapy with corticosteroids.

Beclomethasone dipropionate aerosol at a dose of 100 mug four times a day was administered to 32 patients suffering from chronic perennial asthma. Twenty-three of these patients had previously received prolonged treatment with corticosteroids, causing various degrees of adrenal suppression in some patients. Almost complete recovery of adrenal function was observed within a period of six months in most patients. Treatment with beclomethasone dipropionate did not affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the other nine asthmatic patients who had not received prolonged corticosteroid therapy previously and who served as a control group.