Preventive care for children receiving steroids

Abstract

Most pediatricians have children in their practice receiving corticosteroid therapy. These potent drugs are central to the management of a host of acute and chronic conditions in childhood, and usually are quite safe. Especially in the case of long-term therapy, however, there are a host of potential complications to the use of corticosteroids. Although by no means standardized, the risk of these complications has led to various recommendations for preventive care for children on chronic glucocorticoid therapy. In this volume of The Journal, Basiaga et al at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia studied adherence to such recommendations in some of their hospital's specialty clinics. The variability in adherence was striking, ranging from 78% for influenza immunization to 2% for prescribing of stress steroid dosing. It is likely that practitioners will quibble over the actual recommendations. That being said, this report is a reminder that these are drugs with significant long-term complications, and that prescribers should be more vigilant in tracking the preventive measures they consider important. Article page 226 ▶ Variation in Preventive Care in Children Receiving Chronic Glucocorticoid TherapyThe Journal of PediatricsVol. 179PreviewTo assess preventive care measure prescribing in children exposed to glucocorticoids and identify prescribing variation according to subspecialty and patient characteristics. Full-Text PDF