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Table 1 ICS starting doses for asthma therapy in children in Canada

From: Adrenal suppression: A practical guide to the screening and management of this under-recognized complication of inhaled corticosteroid therapy

ICS and inhaler device

Minimum age licensed for use

Low-moderate dose (μg/day)

High-dose (μg/day)

Beclomethasone dipropionate MDI (Qvar, generics)

5 years

100-150 BID

200 BID

Budesonide DPI (Pulmicort)

6 years

200 BID

400 BID

Budesonide Nebulizer (Pulmicort)

3 months

250-500 BID

1000 BID

Ciclesonide MDI (Alvesco)

6 years

100-200 OD

400 OD-BID

Fluticasone propionate MDI/DPI (Flovent HFA, Flovent Diskus)

12 months

100-125 BID

250 BID

  1. ICS: inhaled corticosteroid; MDI: metered dose inhaler; DPI: dry powder inhaler; BID: twice daily; OD: once daily
  2. Adapted from Kovesi et al., 2010 [14]