Long‐Term Corticosteroid Use, Adrenal Insufficiency, And The Need For Steroid‐Sparing Treatment

Researchers herein address the topic of secondary adrenal insufficiency (AI) due to corticosteroid use in cases with asthma. Nowadays biologic therapies targeting inflammatory mediators can provide decrease or elimination of maintenance oral corticosteroids (OCS) without loss of control in people suffering from severe asthma (nearly 5%–10% of all cases). However, it is yet to be determined which strategy would be optimal to ensure early detection and treatment of AI and safe OCS withdrawal in routine clinical practice. If the objective is to greatly decrease and, where possible, remove long‐term OCS use in severe asthma by the increasing adoption of biologic treatments, there exists an urgent requirement of clinical trials addressing both the speed of OCS withdrawal and how to monitor for AI.

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