Corticosteroids and asthma death

NEW YORK, August 3 (Praxis Press) Inhaled corticosteroids are effective in treating asthma but it is unclear whether their use can prevent death from asthma. Suissa and colleagues performed a population-based study of deaths from asthma in Saskatchewan, Canada, between 1975 and 1991, and found that regular use of inhaled corticosteroids might be associated with a decreased risk of death from asthma. Out of 30,569 subjects, 66 patients who died of asthma and who had complete records inhaled a mean number of 1.18 canisters of corticosteroids compared with a mean number of 1.57 canisters for the controls. They also found that the rate of death from asthma decreased by 21% with each additional canister of inhaled corticosteroids used in the previous year. The regular use of low-dose inhaled corticosteroids may decrease the risk of death from asthma.