[Efficacy of long-term beclomethasone dipropionate inhalation therapy in pediatric patients with asthma, and its effect on height growth and adrenocortical functions].

Seventy-eight pediatric patients with moderate to severe chronic asthma, aged 6 to 16 years, who failed to respond well to inhaled DSCG and theophylline RTC, were treated with beclomethasone dipropionate inhaler (BDI) for 0.5 to 10 years (mean: 4.2 +/- 2.4 years). The efficacy rate gradually increased with time: 61.1% at one year after the start of the treatment and 89.5% at three years. Long-term BDI therapy over five years did not cause suppression of height growth or adrenocortical functions (early morning cortisol level and rapid ACTH test). However, the safety of long-term BDI therapy in children still needs to be studied more thoroughly and established. Further investigation will be necessary since some cases did not respond to BDI therapy while others died of exacerbated asthmatic symptoms soon after the start of BDI therapy.