Ultrasound of skin in prednisolone-induced short-term growth suppression.

Objective: To assess the thickness of the cutis and subcutis in children with prednisolone-induced knemometric growth suppression.
Design: A double blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial with two 7-day treatment periods.
Patients: Twenty children with asthma aged 7.7 to 13.8 (mean 10.4) years.
Interventions: 5 mg prednisolone/day.
Outcome Measures: Lower leg growth rate, thickness of cutis and subcutis and the fraction of low echogenic pixels determined by ultrasound.
Results: Mean lower leg growth rate was -0.23 during prednisolone, 0.58 mm/week during placebo treatment (p < 0.01). Mean total thickness of cutis and subcutis over the knee was reduced by 0.28 during prednisolone, increased by 0.07 mm/week during placebo treatment (p = 0.04). Lower leg growth rate was positively correlated to changes in thickness of cutis and subcutis (p = 0.04; r = 0.31).
Conclusions: Reductions in thickness of cutis and subcutis may account for some of the lower leg growth suppression caused by systemic glucocorticoids.