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A Review of Budesonide Inhalation Suspension in the Treatment of Pediatric Asthma
Author(s) -
Szefler Stanley J.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
pharmacotherapy: the journal of human pharmacology and drug therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.227
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1875-9114
pISSN - 0277-0008
DOI - 10.1592/phco.21.2.195.34115
Subject(s) - budesonide , medicine , inhalation , asthma , corticosteroid , lung function , pediatrics , pulmonary function testing , disease , glucocorticoid , intensive care medicine , anesthesia , lung
Asthma is recognized as an inflammatory disease, and inhaled corticosteroids are the mainstay of treatment in patients with persistent disease. Until recently, no inhaled corticosteroid was approved in the United States for children aged 4 years and younger, and no practical dosage form was available for infants and young children unable to use metered‐dose inhalers effectively. Budesonide inhalation suspension (BIS) is a glucocorticoid with high topical and low systemic activity. In children aged 12 months‐8 years, BIS improves asthma symptoms and lung function and decreases the need for breakthrough bronchodilators. Long‐term follow‐up studies in children concluded that BIS is well tolerated, with little or no effect on growth and hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis function. Thus it is a valuable therapeutic alternative to systemic corticosteroid therapy in infants and young children.