Health: Boning Up On Steroids

Good news about the treatment of kids with nephrotic syndrome, the most common kidney disease in children. Treatment for the illness--corticosteroid drugs such as prednisone--can lead to bone loss in adults, but the drugs appear to be safe for these youngsters' bones. The authors of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine speculate that children with nephrotic syndrome who take oral corticosteroids--not to be confused with anabolic steroids, the drugs that some athletes abuse--don't suffer from osteoporosis because the drugs cause them to gain weight. Those extra pounds may stimulate bones to grow stronger to compensate. Not to worry: the study finds that obesity rates drop off once these patients stop taking the medication.