title: Antihistamines in the treatment of asthma.
abstract: Antihistamines were investigated for use in asthma shortly after discovery over fifty years ago. Earlier compounds proved ineffective because of side effects: this class of drugs was not thought useful for asthma, and were actually considered contraindicated. More recent drugs have greater potency, fewer side-effects, and no evidence of adverse effects in asthma. There are some studies showing second generation antihistamines, especially cetirizine, improve certain parameters of asthma.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Medical Branch, Department of Medicine, Galveston 77555-0762, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malick
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Grant
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D017332:Cetirizine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006632:Histamine / Q000276:immunology; D006634:Histamine H1 Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D006634:Histamine H1 Antagonists; D006632:Histamine; D017332:Cetirizine