The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Bone loss and inhaled glucocorticoids

Bone loss and inhaled glucocorticoids
Bone loss and inhaled glucocorticoids
Comparisons between patients with mild asthma and those with persistent asthma who are receiving high doses of inhaled glucocorticoids must include a careful evaluation of base-line characteristics.2 Table 2 of the article shows that the 28 women who did not use inhaled glucocorticoids weighed less than the 42 women who required more than eight puffs of inhaled glucocorticoids per day (mean [±SD], 140±20 vs. 154±40 lb), had nearly twice the level of physical activity (98±54 vs. 55±71 metabolic hours per week), had a lower incidence of past or current use of inhaled glucocorticoids (14±36 percent vs. 62±49 percent), and were less likely to have a history of oral-glucocorticoid use (36± 49 percent vs. 79±42 percent). All of these base-line differences appear to be statistically significant. It is as if we compared the bones of a busload of women soccer players with those of a busload of sedentary women.
A relative lack of gravitational exercise can obviously contribute to bone loss, as shown most clearly in astronauts returning from zero gravity. Because the presence of persistent asthma limits one's ability to exercise, the resulting inactivity and other changes in variables reflecting the severity of asthma (e.g., weight, prednisone use, and airway inflammation) invalidate any reliable analysis of the effects of inhaled glucocorticoids on bone loss in groups that were so dissimilar at base line in the absence of a randomized scheme of treatment allocation.
533-535
van Staa, Tjeerd-Pieter
f840d545-0e8d-40fe-9124-976826190cc3
Leufkens, Bert
6676720e-9f2a-47e2-bad4-2d174b2fbdba
Cooper, Cyrus
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
van Staa, Tjeerd-Pieter
f840d545-0e8d-40fe-9124-976826190cc3
Leufkens, Bert
6676720e-9f2a-47e2-bad4-2d174b2fbdba
Cooper, Cyrus
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6

van Staa, Tjeerd-Pieter, Leufkens, Bert and Cooper, Cyrus (2002) Bone loss and inhaled glucocorticoids. New England Journal of Medicine, 346 (7), 533-535.

Record type: Article

Abstract

Comparisons between patients with mild asthma and those with persistent asthma who are receiving high doses of inhaled glucocorticoids must include a careful evaluation of base-line characteristics.2 Table 2 of the article shows that the 28 women who did not use inhaled glucocorticoids weighed less than the 42 women who required more than eight puffs of inhaled glucocorticoids per day (mean [±SD], 140±20 vs. 154±40 lb), had nearly twice the level of physical activity (98±54 vs. 55±71 metabolic hours per week), had a lower incidence of past or current use of inhaled glucocorticoids (14±36 percent vs. 62±49 percent), and were less likely to have a history of oral-glucocorticoid use (36± 49 percent vs. 79±42 percent). All of these base-line differences appear to be statistically significant. It is as if we compared the bones of a busload of women soccer players with those of a busload of sedentary women.
A relative lack of gravitational exercise can obviously contribute to bone loss, as shown most clearly in astronauts returning from zero gravity. Because the presence of persistent asthma limits one's ability to exercise, the resulting inactivity and other changes in variables reflecting the severity of asthma (e.g., weight, prednisone use, and airway inflammation) invalidate any reliable analysis of the effects of inhaled glucocorticoids on bone loss in groups that were so dissimilar at base line in the absence of a randomized scheme of treatment allocation.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2002

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 26061
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/26061
PURE UUID: 8d781df7-85ba-4bd0-a69a-1c5b8bea0bf1
ORCID for Cyrus Cooper: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3510-0709

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 20 Apr 2006
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 02:44

Export record

Contributors

Author: Tjeerd-Pieter van Staa
Author: Bert Leufkens
Author: Cyrus Cooper ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×