ABSTRACT
Inhaled corticosteroids are widely used in the treatment of asthma but their safety on bone density is controversial. To study in a population of adults with asthma receiving inhaled corticosteroids for long term, the effect of this therapy on bone mineral density. Prospective study including 20 asthmatics, aged from 20 to 45 years, treated with inhaled corticosteroids for 12 months or more, with no risk factors for osteoporosis. We compared osteodensitometric parameters in our patients, bone mass and T-score at vertebral and femoral witness to a population matched by age and sex. The average age of our patients was 35.45 +/- 5.43 years and the average BMI was 30.03 +/- 5.77 kg/m2. The average daily dose of corticosteroid was 925 +/- 133.27g of equivalent of beclometasone with an average take of 33.5 +/- 21.3 months. The vertebral site bone mass average was 1216 +/- 0106 g/cm2 in the studied group and 1201 +/- 0099 g/cm2 in the control group without significant difference [p = 0380]. At femur, the bone mass average was 1037 +/- 0143 g/cm2 in the patient group and 1056 +/- 0107 g/cm2 in the control group [p = 0380]. We did not find a significant link between bone mineral density and cumulative dose or the duration of taking inhaled corticosteroids, BMI and tobacco. Our work confirms like other previous studies the safety of inhaled corticosteroids on bone mineral density