Your preschooler is having intermittent, sporadic fits of wheezing. Do you give inhaled corticosteroids in the hope that it will not develop into a full blown chronic asthma later on?

According to latest research published in The New England Journal of Medicine, although symptoms may be alleviated while the child is under treatment, there seems to be little effect on the child's chances of contracting a more chronic form later on.

Our data suggest that inhaled corticosteroids have little therapeutic effect on the processes that determine the progression of the disease from its initial, intermittent stages to a more chronic form, as described in the epidemiology literature."

Interesting though, is that they noted those children who used Flovent, an inhalable corticosteroid made by GlaxoSmithKline, grew about a centimeter less than those who did not. After a year of observation, the Flovent kids seems to be catching up, but according to the researchers, there is still no determinitive data of the log-term effects of Flovent on height.

For a more through discussion of the study, read WebMD's Easing Kids' Breathing Before Asthma.