Reinforce that asthma is a potentially disabling and serious
disease for which optimal control is the first priority. ICS
therapy, currently the most effective treatment for persistent
asthma and the only therapy demonstrated to reduce the risk
of death fromasthma, offers relatively targeted corticosteroid
exposure with a high benefit/risk ratio, particularly when
compared with oral corticosteroid treatment at equally effective
dosages. Acknowledge that modest slowing of growth is a
possible effect of treatment, but is less significant to the
child’s well being than freedom from asthma symptoms
and, in severe cases, prevention of life-threatening episodes.50
Reassure that with proper monitoring, drug selection, and
dose-adjustment, the effects of ICSs on growth can be prevented,
or detected and minimized, and that the best data
available indicate a very mild degree (eg,