People affected by asthma suffer breathing problems. Children who experience an asthma attack are treated with a short burst of oral steroids. A new study led Université de Montréal has observed the adverse effects of this burst of steroids. The findings were published in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonology.

The study noted a brief and transient depression of a child’s immune response after being given that burst of steroids.
The first author of the study, Francine M. Ducharme, is a pediatrician, a professor at Université de Montréal, and a researcher at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center. She had this to say:

“There is no question that the administration of corticosteroids reduces the risk and duration of hospital admission in children with acute asthma and remains the most effective treatment for moderate and severe asthma exacerbations. However, the safety profile of these medications continues to raise concerns among parents and physicians. Concerns over their possible impact on the immune system stem from few rare reports linking or severe chickenpox infections linked with corticosteroid administration.”

Researchers involved in the study evaluated the immune response of children given the steroids burst with ones not given the burst by giving them immune triggers known as antigens. The children were aged between 3 and 17.

Ducharme said:

“Several corticosteroid-treated children had a lower immune response, as measured by the amount of antibody produced, than non-treated kids.”

But this lower immune response was only temporary. A similar test conducted 5 weeks after the children’s initial visit led to an almost equal immune response from both types of children.

Added Ducharme:

“These findings indicate there may be a very transient immune suppression only in some children exposed to a new antigen at the same time as a corticosteroid administration. In summary, our findings suggest a very transient immune suppression occurs in some children who are concomitantly exposed to a new antigen and corticosteroids during an asthma attack, with a recovery within six weeks. Given the high frequency of use of these drugs over the past 20 years, the very rare occurrence of severe infectious disease is reassuring and would suggest that the window of risk is very small and only applies to exposure to a new antigen. However, before prescribing oral corticosteroids, it would appear prudent to systematically enquire about recent exposure to chickenpox in children who did not have chickenpox or the vaccine.”

The study also makes it imperative for all children with asthma who have not had chickenpox to be vaccinated for this condition.