Dexamethasone Associated With Significantly Shorter Length of Hospital Stay Compared With a Prednisolone-Based Regimen in Pediatric Patients With Mild to Moderate Acute Asthma Exacerbations.

A retrospective chart review was done to evaluate the efficacy of a course of dexamethasone for pediatric patients hospitalized with a mild to moderate acute asthma exacerbation compared with a prednisone-based regimen. Patients were identified based on International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9 and ICD-10) discharge diagnosis codes for asthma and cross-referenced with pharmacy dispense reports during the study period of June 2011 to January 2016. Baseline characteristics were similar among the 2 groups. The median length of hospital stay in the dexamethasone and prednisolone groups were 1.31 and 1.75 days, respectively, with a hazard ratio of 2.5 (95% confidence interval - 2.1-3.1), P < .001. After accounting for significant confounding variables, the difference in length of stay remained significantly longer in the prednisolone group with a hazard ratio of 1.8 (95% confidence interval = 1.4-2.3), P < .001. A course of dexamethasone is associated with a significantly shorter length of stay for mild to moderate asthma exacerbations compared with a prednisone-based regimen.