Assessing Corticosteroid Related Metabolic Disturbances in OAD Patients: A Review

Obstructive Airway Disease (OAD) encompasses a group of conditions characterized by airflow obstruction within the lungs, makes harder to breath. OAD covers conditions like asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), bronchitis and bronchiectasis. The prevalence of these disease differs across regions. In India, for instance, asthma affects around 3% of the population. In 2021 COPD was linked to roughly 3.5 million deaths worldwide, placing it among the most common causes of death globally. Persistent cough especially at night, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness are the most commonly occurring symptoms of asthma. These can vary from person to person. Treatment aims to ease symptoms, improve breathing, prevent flare- ups and slow disease progression. Corticosteroids work by turning off the genes that trigger inflammation in the airway lining. They also reduce blood vessel widening and leakiness, which helps prevent immune cells from rushing to the site and causing further swelling. Despite their benefit they also have various side effects. This includes Hyperglycaemia, Hypertension, Weight gain, Osteoporosis, GI side effects, Dermatological adverse effects, Cardiovascular side effects and so on. Steroids acts on the liver and enhances the hepatic glucose production; thus it makes alteration in blood glucose level. They impairs the mineralization of bone matrix and also impairs the absorption of calcium from gut thus leads to bone disorder. GI side effects are associated with the increase in the dose and duration of treatment. Steroid uptake also causes immune suppression and leads to further infections.