Desloratadine breathes QOL into seasonal allergic rhinitis

PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 500 - 8 Apr 2006

Desloratadine breathes QOL intoseasonal allergic rhinitis

Desloratadine treatment improves QOL and nasalairflow and resistance in patients with seasonal allergicrhinitis (SAR), according to US based researchers.

Researchers randomised 220 patients with mild-to-moderate symptomatic SAR, to receive desloratadine5mg (n = 109) or placebo once daily for 14 days, in thisdouble-blind trial.* SAR-related symptoms wererecorded twice daily using a four-point scale, and QOLdomains measured using the RhinoconjunctivitisQuality of Life Questionnaire. Nasal airflow andresistance were measured using four-phaserhinomanometry.

Desloratadine was associated with significantimprovements from baseline in overall SAR condition,therapeutic response, and in nasal and nonnasal SARsymptoms, except for nasal stuffiness, compared withplacebo. Notably, desloratadine was also associatedwith significant improvements in nasal airflow andsignificantly less nasal airway resistance. Furthermore,QOL measures related to nasal symptom domains weresignificantly improved in the desloratadine cohortcompared with the placebo cohort.* This study was supported by Integrated Therapeutics Group Inc (asubsidiary of Schering-Plough Corp), with which two of the authorswere affiliated.

Meltzer EO, et al. Effect of desloratadine therapy on symptom scores and measuresof nasal patency in seasonal allergic rhinitis: results of a single-center, placebo-controlled trial. Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 96: 363-368, No. 2,Feb 2006 801037729

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 8 Apr 2006 No. 5001173-5503/10/0500-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved