In preschool children at high risk for asthma, two years of inhaled-corticosteroid therapy did not change the development of asthma symptoms or lung function during a third, treatment-free year. These findings do not provide support for a subsequent disease-modifying effect of inhaled corticosteroids after the treatment is discontinued. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00272441.).

Summary Background Daily inhaled corticosteroids are an effective treatment for mild persistent asthma, but some children have exacerbations even with good day-to-day control, and many discontinue treatment after becoming asymptomatic. We assessed the effectiveness of an inhaled corticosteroid (beclomethasone dipropionate) used as rescue treatment. Methods In this 44-week, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial we enrolled children and adolescents with mild persistent asthma aged 5–18 years from five clinical centres in the USA. A computer-generated randomisation sequence, stratified by clinical centre and age group, was used to randomly assign participants to one of four treatment groups: twice daily beclomethasone with beclomethasone plus albuterol as rescue (combined group); twice daily beclomethasone with placebo plus albuterol as rescue (daily beclomethasone group); twice daily placebo with beclomethasone plus albuterol as rescue (rescue beclomethasone group); and twice daily placebo with placebo plus albuterol as rescue (placebo group). Twice daily beclomethasone treatment was one puff of beclomethasone (40 µg per puff) or placebo given in the morning and evening. Rescue beclomethasone treatment was two puffs of beclomethasone or placebo for each two puffs of albuterol (180 µg) needed for symptom relief. The primary outcome was time to first exacerbation that required oral corticosteroids. A secondary outcome measured linear growth. Analysis was by intention to treat. This study is registered with clinicaltrials.gov, number NCT00394329. Results 843 children and adolescents were enrolled into this trial, of whom 288 were assigned to one of four treatment groups; combined (n=71), daily beclomethasone (n=72), rescue beclomethasone (n=71), and placebo (n=74)—555 individuals were excluded during the run-in, according to predefined criteria. Compared with the placebo group (49%, 95% CI 37–61), the frequency of exacerbations was lower in the daily (28%, 18–40, p=0·03), combined (31%, 21–43, p=0·07), and rescue (35%, 24–47, p=0·07) groups. Frequency of treatment failure was 23% (95% CI 14–43) in the placebo group, compared with 5·6% (1·6–14) in the combined (p=0·012), 2·8% (0–10) in the daily (p=0·009), and 8·5% (2–15) in the rescue (p=0·024) groups. Compared with the placebo group, linear growth was 1·1 cm (SD 0·3) less in the combined and daily arms (p<0·0001), but not the rescue group (p=0·26). Only two individuals had severe adverse events; one in the daily beclomethasone group had viral meningitis and one in the combined group had bronchitis. Interpretation Children with mild persistent asthma should not be treated with rescue albuterol alone and the most effective treatment to prevent exacerbations is daily inhaled corticosteroids. Inhaled corticosteroids as rescue medication with albuterol might be an effective step-down strategy for children with well controlled, mild asthma because it is more effective at reducing exacerbations than is use of rescue albuterol alone. Use of daily inhaled...

BACKGROUND For children who have uncontrolled asthma despite the use of low-dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), evidence to guide step-up therapy is lacking. METHODS We randomly assigned 182 children (6 to 17 years of age), who had uncontrolled asthma while receiving 100 µg of fluticasone twice daily, to receive each of three blinded step-up therapies in random order for 16 weeks: 250 µg of fluticasone twice daily (ICS step-up), 100 µg of fluticasone plus 50 µg of a long-acting beta-agonist twice daily (LABA step-up), or 100 µg of fluticasone twice daily plus 5 or 10 mg of a leukotriene-receptor antagonist daily (LTRA step-up). We used a triple-crossover design and a composite of three outcomes (exacerbations, asthma-control days, and the forced expiratory volume in 1 second) to determine whether the frequency of a differential response to the step-up regimens was more than 25%. RESULTS A differential response occurred in 161 of 165 patients who were evaluated (P<0.001). The response to LABA step-up therapy was most likely to be the best response, as compared with responses to LTRA step-up (relative probability, 1.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1 to 2.3; P = 0.004) and ICS step-up (relative probability, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2 to 2.4; P = 0.002). Higher scores on the Asthma Control Test before randomization (indicating better control at baseline) predicted a better response to LABA step-up (P = 0.009). White race predicted a better response to LABA step-up, whereas black patients were least likely to have a best response to LTRA step-up (P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS Nearly all the children had a differential response to each step-up therapy. LABA step-up was significantly more likely to provide the best response than either ICS or LTRA step-up. However, many children had a best response to ICS or LTRA step-up therapy, highlighting the need to regularly monitor and appropriately adjust each child’s asthma therapy. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00395304.)