title: A comparative study of loratadine syrup and cyproheptadine HCL solution for treating perennial allergic rhinitis in Taiwanese children aged 2-12 years.
abstract: We assessed the efficacy of loratadine syrup compared with cyproheptadine HCl solution for treating children aged from 2 to 12 years with perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) in Taiwan. Sixty children with mite-induced PAR were enrolled and randomly placed into two treatment groups: loratadine syrup or cyproheptadine HCl solution. Treatment efficacy and symptom changes from baseline to post-treatment were evaluated by total symptom scores and visual analogue scales (VAS) during a 2-week period. There were no differences in age, gender, height, or weight between the two groups. After 2 weeks of treatment, there was a significantly greater reduction in symptom scores in the loratadine group than in the cyproheptadine group (p&#x003C;0.001). Clinical and subjective VAS showed significant differences in percentage changes from baseline between the loratadine and cyproheptadine groups at all time points (all  p&#x003C;0.001, in favor of loratadine). Clinical VAS change at week 1: 95.1  vs  11.3; subjective VAS change at week 1: 88.6  vs  13.6; clinical VAS change at week 2: 125.5  vs  18.3; subjective VAS change at week 2: 101.4  vs  7.1. Thus, loratadine was superior to cyproheptadine for alleviating both nasal and non-nasal symptoms of perennial allergic rhinitis in Taiwanese children aged 2-12 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. kgwu@vghtpe.gov.tw
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: T Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003533:Cyproheptadine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006634:Histamine H1 Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D039563:Histamine H1 Antagonists, Non-Sedating / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D017336:Loratadine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012996:Solutions; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D006634:Histamine H1 Antagonists; D039563:Histamine H1 Antagonists, Non-Sedating; D012996:Solutions; D003533:Cyproheptadine; D017336:Loratadine