The endocrinometabolic effects of beclomethasone dipropionate in asthmatic patients.

The endocrinometabolic effects of the aerosol administration of beclomethasone dipropionate (100 microng four times daily) were evaluated in 20 asthmatic patients (11 corticodependent and nine noncorticodependent) during one month. In the noncorticodependent group, aerosol administration of beclomethasone had no statistically significant effect on the results of the glucose tolerance test and the plasma levels of insulin; there was a slight decrease in basal levels of cortisol, but the response of the cortisol level to administration of ACTH remained quite normal. In corticodependent patients, after substitution of aerosol therapy with beclomethasone for the oral therapy with steroids, the depression of adrenal function disappeared, usually quickly (in less than one month), whereas the abnormalities in the results of the glucose tolerance test persisted. Thus, at the dosage used, beclomethasone dipropionate might have minor systemic endocrinometabolic effects.