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Article: Breathing freely threatens seeing clearly. (inhaled steroids linked to glaucoma risk)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- March 8, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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People with asthma breathed a sigh of relief with the advent of inhaled steroids in the early 1990s. These widely used, synthetic hormones relieve inflammation where it counts-in the lungs and bronchial passages-without the severe side effects of oral steroids.
So effective are inhaled steroids at staving off asthma attacks that doctors now regard them as a mainstay of therapy. Thousands of people take high doses daily in regimens that may last a lifetime.
New research indicates, however, that inhaled steroids may have an unsuspected dark side.
A study of nearly 50,000 elderly people in the Canadian province of Quebec found that prolonged, high-dose use ...