Sternomastoid muscle fatigue and twitch maximum relaxation rate in patients with steroid dependent asthma.

Abstract

Respiratory muscle weakness does not occur more often in patients taking oral corticosteroids. The corticosteroid group was more prone to fatigue than the control group, but was similar to normal subjects. This suggests that chronic airflow limitation may produce a training effect on the respiratory muscles that might be attenuated by long term oral corticosteroid treatment.