Many with mild asthma, low sputum eosinophils respond equally well to steroids as placebo

(NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute) A study of nearly 300 patients with mild persistent asthma found that inhaled steroids -- long considered the gold standard for asthma treatment -- were no more effective than placebo in nearly three-fourths of the study patients, all over age 12. Inhaled steroids were better than placebo for a subset of the patients who had high levels of a particular type of inflammatory cells, called eosinophils, in their sputum, but they represented about a four...