Evaluation of corticosteroid vitamin D combination in asthma

Abstract

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease characterized by inflammation of the airways, increased mucous production, and airway hyperresponsiveness. Airway inflammation and narrowing of airway passages lead to wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. A hallmark feature of asthma is the presence and activation of inflammatory cells in the airways, notably eosinophils, basophils, mast cells, and T lymphocytes. The mast cells in the airways have the potential to release asthmatic mediators such as histamine, tryptases, chymases and various other enzymes, and cytokines. Current asthma treatments are based on inhaled corticosteroids, long and short acting and#946;2-adrenoreceptor agonists as well as leukotriene antagonists. Inhaled corticosteroid has become first-line treatment for most of the patients. However; long term use of corticosteroid is known to induce various side effects like hyperglycemia, hypertension, cardiometabolic abnormalities, psychiatric adverse effects, weight gain and osteoporosis. Moreover, chronic use of corticosteroid induces vitamin D deficiency and low level of vitamin D contributes to increase in asthma severity. newline newline