Pregnant women can use steroids without side effects

According to a study, pregnant women suffering from asthma can continue using steroids without affecting growth of their unborn babies.

It was disclosed by the involved researchers that unborn babies are in far more danger from lack of oxygen than the mother making use of inhaled steroids.

From MedicalNewsToday.com:

The researchers looked at 396 pregnant women who took inhaled steroids. It did not have an effect on the growth of the fetus. There was no effect on the baby's birth weight either.
They also found that inhaled steroids are safer for pregnant women to take than steroid pills. Oral steroids have been shown to slow the fetus' growth. Oral steroids are also used to treat asthma.
The study was carried out at the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center in San Diego. The team leader was Michael Schatz.
Schatz said 'Now, women don't have to make a choice between their health and the health of the baby. They don't have to think that making that choice is going to somehow harm the baby.'
You can read about the study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
7% of pregnant women get asthma to some degree. Some of these women use inhaled steroids. The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program, (part of the Department of Health and Human Services), supports the use of steroids in pregnant women with serious asthma.
The worry asthmatic women have when they are pregnant is that the fetus is deprived of oxygen. This can sometimes lead to retardation, premature birth, low birth weight and even stillbirth.

The study results appeared in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.