No association of use of Inhaled corticosteroids and pneumonia risk in children

More data need to be collected on the potential association between inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) use and the pneumonia risk among adults. The present study assessed the possible association between ICS, its use and the risk of hospitalization for pneumonia among children with a history of asthma aged 2-17 years.

The present study was based on nationwide data from routine clinical practice in Sweden from January 2007 to November 2021. From 425 965 children with confirmed asthma, using records of dispensed drugs, episodes of new ICS use and no use were identified. They adjusted for potential confounders with propensity score overlap weighting, and the hospitalization risk with pneumonia as the primary diagnosis was estimated. They also performed Multiple subgroup and sensitivity analyses.

Key points from the study are:

• Researchers identified 249 351 ICS and 214 840 no-use with a mean follow-up of 0.9 and 0.7 years, respectively.
• In the ICS and no-use episodes during follow-up, 369 and 181 pneumonia hospitalization events were observed, respectively.
• The weighted incidence rate of hospitalization for pneumonia was 14.5 per 10,000 patient-years for ICS-use episodes and 14.6 for no-use episodes.
• The weighted HR for hospitalization for pneumonia associated with ICS use was 1.06.
• The absolute rate difference was -0.06 events per 10,000 patient-years compared to no use.

In our nationwide cohort study, they said we found no evidence of an association between ICS use and hospitalization risk for pneumonia among children with asthma, as compared with no use.

Reference:

Sielinou Kamgang KH et al. Use of inhaled corticosteroids and the risk of hospitalization for pneumonia in children with asthma: a nationwide cohort study. Thorax. 2024 Jan 6:thorax-2023-220742.