title: The effect of astemizole on bronchial hyperresponsiveness and exercise-induced asthma in children.
abstract: The ability of the new generation H1-receptor antagonist, astemizole, to prevent histamine-induced airway obstruction and exercise-induced asthma (EIA) was studied in 20 children with asthma. The study was a randomised clinically controlled trial of oral astemizole versus placebo in a cross-over study. In each of the two treatment periods the children were tested at days 0, 6, 15 and 22 of therapy. The two treatment periods were separated by a washout period of 50 days, and at each visit a bronchial challenge with increasing concentrations of histamine followed by an exercise test was performed, and peak flow and asthmatic symptom score were recorded daily. The children tolerated significantly higher mean concentrations of histamine when treated with astemizole compared with placebo (P less than 0.001). Astemizole postponed the response to exercise, but no change in the maximal response was found. No differences between the treatment periods were found regarding frequency of asthmatic symptoms or the daily recording of peak flow.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Medicine B, Laboratory of Respiratory Physiology, State University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Backer
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bach-Mortensen
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brink
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Howitz
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Laursen
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000293:Adolescent; D016589:Astemizole; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001250:Asthma, Exercise-Induced / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001562:Benzimidazoles / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001980:Bronchi / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D001562:Benzimidazoles; D016589:Astemizole