High doses of inhaled steroids offer no benefit over lower doses for severe asthma sufferers who are also taking oral steroids, according to German research.
Researchers compared the effect of taking 1500ug and 300ug of inhaled BDP (beclomethasone diproprionate) a day in patients who were also taking oral doses of 10-40mg prednisolone each day. Higher doses of inhaled steroids were of no benefit and did not mean the patient could reduce the amount of oral treatment, they found. “High doses of inhaled steroid offer no further benefit over lower doses in the maintenance treatment of severe steroid dependent asthma when the inhaled steroid is administered with a spacer device,” they conclude.