Short-term increases in inhaled corticosteroids unlikely to help exacerbations of asthma

Evidence from double‐blind trials of adults and children with mild to moderate asthma suggests there is unlikely to be an important reduction in the need for oral steroids from increasing a patient’s ICS dose at the first sign of an asthma exacerbation.

Other clinically important benefits and potential harms of increased doses of ICS compared with keeping the dose stable cannot be ruled out due to wide confidence intervals, risk of bias in the trials, and assumptions made to permit synthesis.