title: Comparative efficacy of cetirizine and levocetirizine in chronic idiopathic urticaria.
abstract: H1 receptor antagonists are the mainstay of treatment for chronic idiopathic urticaria. Newer hydroxyzine derivatives such as cetirizine and levocetirizine have been found to be equally efficacious in preclinical studies in patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria. In this study, the clinical efficacy of cetirizine and levocetirizine has been studied sequentially in individual patients. Fifty chronic idiopathic urticaria patients received 10 mg of levocetirizine daily for 6 weeks. Some 45 patients out of these showed reasonably good clinical efficacy on a visual analog scale to qualify for comparison with levocetirizine. A total of 30 patients completed the study period of 6 weeks each of cetirizine and levocetirizine sequentially. Thus, the clinical efficacy of cetirizine and levocetirizine was comparable with a marginal advantage of better antipruritic effect with levocetirizine, probably at the cost of increased sedation.
authors: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India.
authors: Geeta
authors: G
authors: Garg
authors: Gurvinder P
authors: GP
authors: Thami
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017332:Cetirizine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D039563:Histamine H1 Antagonists, Non-Sedating / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010879:Piperazines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014581:Urticaria / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D039563:Histamine H1 Antagonists, Non-Sedating; D010879:Piperazines; C472067:levocetirizine; D017332:Cetirizine