Dexamethasone for Asthma Exacerbations in Hospitalized Kids

Clinicians are increasingly favoring dexamethasone over prednisone for the treatment of asthma exacerbations in children owing to better tolerability and less-frequent dosing. Dexamethasone might also reduce hospital length of stay. To examine recent trends in prescribing patterns, researchers analyzed administrative data from 123,000 pediatric asthma admissions at 38 U.S. children’s hospitals from 2016 through 2023. They excluded long hospitalizations (>5 days) and those for severe illness (e.g., requiring intubation) to focus on typical asthma exacerbations. Eighty percent of patients were aged <10 years.