Short- and long-term oral steroid therapy in patients with asthma exacerbation

Steroids are frequently used for symptom control in cases of asthma exacerbation. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of short-term and long-term oral steroid therapy on symp-tom control in patients with asthma exacerbation. Patients that received short-term (<10 d) and long-term (>= 10 d) oral steroid therapy during asthma exacerbation were compared retrospective-ly. A visual analog scale (VAS) for symptom severity was admin-istered, and the asthma control test (ACT) and pulmonary function tests were performed before and after treatment. The study includ-ed 69 patients and the overall mean duration of steroid treatment was 9.57 +/- 3.58 d (range: 5-25 d). Mean duration of short-term and long-term steroid treatment was 6.54 +/- 0.99 d and 11.63 +/- 3.21 d, respectively. Serious side-effects were not observed following oral steroid therapy. Post the short-and long-term oral steroid therapy there were not any significant differences between the 2 groups in terms of ACT, FEV1 (forced expiratory volume 1), or VAS symp-tom scores. The findings show that in patients with mild asthma exacerbation short-term oral steroid therapy is as effective as long-term steroid therapy and can be safely used for symptom control during periods of mild asthma exacerbation.