Corticosteroids might harm some patients with asthma

A group of NHLBI-funded researchers have found that the corticosteroids that people with severe asthma are prescribed might be harming them. Ten to 15 percent of people with asthma have a severe form of the condition that doctors try to control unsuccessfully by increasing the dosage of the medications. In a study published in Science Immunology, the researchers found that these patients’ immune systems present differences that explain why the higher doses don’t help and could be harming the patients by worsening the inflammation.