People prescribed a short course of oral steroids for an asthma exacerbation can be reassured by new findings that it won’t lead to weigh gain.

The double-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled cross-over trial of 60 patients with asthma taking prednisolone 25mg twice daily for 10 days found that short term oral steroids did not  affect appetite, dietary intake or cause food cravings and body weight changes.

The findings filled a gap in the literature and provided clinicians and health professionals with the evidence needed to reassure adults prescribed short term oral steroids for acute asthma, wrote the authors led by Bronwyn Berthon from the Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Disease, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle.

This new evidence could also have a positive effect on patient adherence, they wrote in their paper  published in Clinical Experimental Allergy.

The patients did report other side effects like GI disturbance and insomnia while taking steroids,  which the authors said may require medical management.