Children prescribed oral steroids up to twice as likely to face severe medical events

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-04-20 01:00

International

Children prescribed a short course of oral steroids face an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, sepsis, pneumonia, and glaucoma, according to Taiwan researchers. The study looked at the health records of 4,542,623 children, with 23 per cent having been prescribed a short course of oral corticosteroids to treat conditions including asthma, respiratory infections and allergies. The medication was associated with associated with a 1.4- to 2.2-fold increased risk of adverse health events.

Journal/
conference: JAMA Pediatrics

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan

Funder: This work was supported by grants from National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan (PH-109-PP-08, Dr Tsai), Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST 107-2314-B-400-031-MY3, Dr Tsai; and MOST 106-2314-B-182-051-MY3 and MOST 109-2314-B-182-042-MY3, Dr Yao); research grants from the Headquarters of University Advancement, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan (Dr Wang), Chang Gung Medical Foundation (CMRPG3F1711-3, CMRPG3F0361, CMRPG3J0121, and CMRPG3K1371, Dr Yao), and the National Institutes of Health/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (1R01HD085993-01, Dr Wu).

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