1. Dosage

Because asthma is comprised of both inflammatory and bronchoconstrictive components, asthma treatment plans include routine use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) to manage inflammatory processes in asthma patients requiring chronic treatment. Higher ICS doses may contribute to a decrease in linear growth velocity in children, but adult height does not appear to be significantly inhibited following ICS use in childhood. All ICS doses may contribute to decreased bone formation in children and bone mineral density in adults. Close monitoring of growth and bone formation markers in children and fracture risk in adults is warranted with long-term ICS use. The lowest effective ICS dose should be utilized for the shortest required time period.