London, Sept. 30 (Reuters): Regular use of steroid inhalers can cut hospital admissions for asthma by a third, according to new research into their long-term effects published today.

Scientists at McGill University Health Centre in Quebec, Canada, said their study of asthma patients over 22 years showed the benefits of inhaled steroids for asthma.

“In this large-scale, population-based study we found that, over the long term, regular use of inhaled corticosteroids is associated with a reduction in the rate of hospital admissions for asthma by one third,” said Dr Samy Suissa, who headed the research team.

Corticosteroids are medications used to treat inflammatory diseases such as asthma and chronic lung disease.

Suissa and his colleagues analysed the records of 30,569 asthma patients including hospital admissions and the type of treatment they were given for their illness. They found that about 42 in every 1,000 asthma patients a year were admitted to hospital. But regular use of inhaled steroids cut hospital admissions by 31 per cent.