Assessment of clinical effectiveness of various drugs in the patients of allergic rhinitis visiting tertiary care hospital of Punjab, India

Abstract

Introduction: Allergic rhinitis is characterized by mild to severe upper respiratory symptoms, such as nasal congestion, rhi-norrhea, sneezing, and itching. In this study, attempt is being made to evaluate the clinical efficacy of various drugs in allergic rhinitis and to compare clinical efficacy in individual symptom score of allergic rhinitis. Materials and methods: Totally, 125 patients clinically diagnosed as suffering from allergic rhinitis were enrolled for the study. All the patients were randomly divided into five groups of 25 each. Patients were given tablet Montelukast 10 mg once a day (OD) in group I, tablet Levocetirizine 5 mg OD in group II, tablet Fexofenadine 180 mg OD in group III, tablet Desloratadine 5 mg OD in group IV, and tablet Chlorpheniramine maleate 4 mg three times a day (TDS) in group V. Each patient was followed up after 2 weeks and then after 4 and 6 weeks for the sneezing and nasal congestion/obstruction. Results: At the 2nd week follow-up, Levocetirizine was significantly effective with 40% patients having zero (0) sneezing symptom score and with mean rank 45.54 as compared with other drugs. At fourth and 6th week follow-up, Montelukast was more effective with 48 and 56% patients having zero sneezing symptom score and having mean rank 54.60 and 51.78 as compared with other drugs. At 2nd week follow-up, Levocetirizine was significantly effective with 24% patients having zero symptom score; at 4th week follow-up, Montelukast was more effective with 44% patients having zero symptom score in nasal discharge; and at 6th week follow-up, Montelukast was more effective with 60% patients having zero symptom score. Conclusion: Symptomatic improvement was seen in all the drug groups. It was observed that Levocetirizine was better at 2 weeks. Overall, at the end of 6 weeks of treatment, Montelukast group had maximum improvement followed by Levocetirizine, Fexofenadine, Desloratadine, and Chlorpheniramine respectively.