Prednisolone or Dexamethasone for Acute Asthma Exacerbations
You are asked to see a 6-year-old child who has come into hospital with an acute exacerbation of asthma. She is able to talk in full sentences, however, her respirations are 40/min with audible wheeze, and you prescribe 10 puffs of salbutamol as initial management. The British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines recommend early use of steroids to decrease admission rate and length of stay, and you feel steroids would be of value for this child. However the mother of your patient explains her daughter hates taking any medications. You have read an article about dexamethasone being a shorter treatment course with better compliance and wonder if it has similar efficacy to prednisolone.
Scenario
You are asked to see a 6-year-old child who has come into hospital with an acute exacerbation of asthma. She is able to talk in full sentences, however, her respirations are 40/min with audible wheeze, and you prescribe 10 puffs of salbutamol as initial management. The British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines recommend early use of steroids to decrease admission rate and length of stay, and you feel steroids would be of value for this child. However the mother of your patient explains her daughter hates taking any medications. You have read an article about dexamethasone being a shorter treatment course with better compliance and wonder if it has similar efficacy to prednisolone.
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