A single dose of inhaled corticosteroid at 4pm may optimise lung function in patients with asthma who otherwise succumb to nocturnal dips, a small study shows.

UK researchers have successfully tested their theory that taking a preventer puff midafternoon gives superior results compared with a single morning dose or the standard twice-daily regimen.

“Once-a-day dosing of inhaled … beclometasone improved nocturnal lung function and reduced blood eosinophil counts compared with alternative dosage timing … without additional adrenal suppression,” the researchers wrote in Thorax.

The team, from the National Institute for Health and Care Research centres in Manchester and Oxford, conducted a randomised three-way crossover trial with 25 adult patients who had mild to moderate atopic asthma.