Time to reconsider oral steroid use
Oral corticosteroids (OCS) can be an effective treatment for exacerbations, reducing relapses and acute hospital admissions
but some patients have reported life-altering side-effects 1 associated with cumulative, long-term use.
Once a mainstay of severe asthma care, scientific advancements have now made alternative options to OCS possible. However, uncontrolled severe asthma is a complicated disease with too many patients not receiving timely access to a specialist, including remotely. The time has come to reconsider the role of OCS in severe asthma care.
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the scale of our challenge

studies have shown that of people with severe asthma received long - term low-dose ocs over the last five years2,3,4
despite global guidelines recommending OCS be stepped down as soon as asthma is controlled5
our key ask
Scientific advancements and a better understanding of the disease means patients with severe asthma do not have to be reliant on OCS
We are calling on those with the power to change policy to implement strategies ensuring that people with severe asthma are limited to 2–4 courses of ocs per year
references
- 1 Zazzali, James L. et al. Risk of corticosteroid-related adverse events in asthma patients with high oral corticosteroid use. Allergy Asthma Proc July to August 2015. Vol 36. No 4. 9
- 2 Heffler E, et al. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract 2019;7:1462–1468
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CancelContinue- 3 Shaw DE, et al. Eur Resp J 2015;46:1308–1321
- 4 Sweeney J, et al. Thorax 2012;67:754–756
- 5 Global Initiative for Asthma. Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention, 2020 https://ginasthma.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ GINA-2020-report_20_06_04-1-wms.pdf Accessed August 2020
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