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Children taking steroid drugs for treating nephrotic syndrome not sufferers of bone loss

Children taking steroid drugs for treating nephrotic syndrome not sufferers of bone loss A new study has revealed that children taking steroid drugs for treating nephrotic syndrome do not suffer from bone loss, a common side effect of steroid treatments in adults.

This study shed light on mixed effects of steroids: the drugs occasionally resulted in obesity that seems to be protecting children against bone loss.

Childhood nephrotic syndrome affects 3 out of 100,000 children is considered to be the most common chronic kidney disease in children.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Unlike other childhood diseases treated with steroid drugs, such as inflammatory bowel disease or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, nephrotic syndrome resolves quickly when treated,” said pediatric nephrologist Mary B. Leonard, M.D., of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, lead author of the study. “We specifically chose steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome because we are able to isolate the drug’s effects on bones, without having an underlying systemic disease simultaneously affecting the bones.”

The team led by Dr. Leonard compared 60 children and adolescents with steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome to 195 healthy children. Specialized X- ray measurements showed no signs of osteoporosis, a loss in bone mass, among the nephrotic syndrome patients. The study appeared in the August 26 New England Journal of Medicine.

The co-authors besides Drs. Leonard and Zemel were also from Children’s Hospital, and were Justine Shults, Ph.D.; Bethany J. Foster, M.D.; and Virginia A. Stallings, M.D. Harold I. Feldman, M.D., and all the co-authors were also from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Grants from the National Institute of Health supported the study.