ACAAI: Corticosteroids Don't Stunt Children's Growth

Children with allergic rhinitis treated with intranasal corticosteroids attain normal heights

THURSDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Intranasal corticosteroids do not seem to stunt the normal growth of children with allergic rhinitis, according to a three-year study presented during the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in Philadelphia.

David Skoner, M.D., of Drexel University College of Medicine in Pittsburgh, and colleagues compared measured heights in 19 children with allergic rhinitis who were treated with the aqueous intranasal corticosteroid triamcinolone acetonide and their expected heights according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The researchers found that the children, aged 6.1 to 14 years at the start, had percentile heights ranging from 10 to 95 percent at the outset, and from 17 to 90 percent after each of three years. The estimated average height that was measured ranged from 132 to 176 centimeters, while the average predicted height ranged from 137 to 180 centimeters, for a minus 7 cm to 8 cm average difference.

"These three-year results show that no statistical difference was detected in height between subjects receiving triamcinolone acetonide aqueous treatment and the predicted height information," the authors write.

For more information, go to the Web site of the ACAAI's annual meeting (More Information).

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