If this is not your name, click here.
| | If this is not your name, click here. | | |
| | Contact Us | Order Now | Journals | Bookstore | Register a colleague | | |
| |  Study Identifies Children Most Likely to Benefit from Montelukast: Presented at WAC By Norra MacReady MUNICH, GERMANY -- June 30, 2005 -- Budesonide is more effective than montelukast at relieving symptoms and improving quality of life in children with mild, persistent asthma, but montelukast is preferable for selected patients, a researcher reported here on June 29th at the World Allergy Congress (WAC). "Montelukast is better if the patient is getting wheezy or has exercise-induced asthma or an exacerbation, but budesonide is better in all other cases," Seval G. Kendirli, MD, Paediatric Allergist and Professor of Paediatrics, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey, said during a poster session. Dr. Kendirli and associates conducted a study on 54 clinically stable outpatients with mild, persistent asthma who were 6 to 14 years old. The children were randomly assigned to receive a 12-week course of oral montelukast once a day in a dose of 5 mg, or budesonide 200 mcg inhaled twice a day. Before starting the medication, patients were studied and tested during a 1-week run-in period. During the treatment period, they underwent monthly evaluations that included a physical examination and assessment of exercise-induced symptoms, asthma severity, quality of life, and pulmonary function. Patients taking budesonide experienced greater symptom reduction and improvement in quality of life, emotional well-being, and pulmonary function, compared to patients treated with montelukast (P < .01), Dr. Kendirli said. However, montelukast proved better for management of exercise-induced asthma (EIA), she added. After 12 weeks of treatment, the number of children with EIA symptoms went from 59% to 7% in the montelukast group (a 52% reduction) and from 41% to 26% in the budesonide group (a 15% reduction). Similarly, both drugs reduced symptoms of allergic rhinitis and the need for rhinitis medication, but the effect was significantly greater with montelukast (P = .01). In general, compliance with treatment was better with montelukast than with budesonide. Dr. Kendirli said that children find it easier to swallow a pill once a day than to learn to use an inhaler, she said in an interview. Montelukast also has a good track record of safety and tolerability in paediatric patients, she said. She recommended montelukast for patients in this age group with mild to persistent asthma if they have exercise-induced asthma or allergic rhinitis, or if they balk at using inhaled medication. "Otherwise," she said, "budesonide was superior to montelukast."
[Presentation title: Comparative Effect of Montelukast and Budesonide on Mild Persistent Childhood Asthma: How to Choose Montelukast in Practice? Poster 852]
|
