The Effect of Oral Montelukast in Controlling Asthma Attacks in Children;  A Randomized Double-blind Placebo Control Study

Mohsen Jafari; Masoomeh Sobhani; Kambiz Eftekhari; Armen Malekiantaghi; Mohammad Gharagozlou; Alireza Shafiei

doi:10.18502/ijaai.v22i5.13990

Mohsen Jafari Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Bahrami Children's Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Masoomeh Sobhani Department of Pediatrics, Bahrami Children's Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Kambiz Eftekhari Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Gastroenterology and Hepatology Research Center, Bahrami Children's Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Armen Malekiantaghi Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, Bahrami Children's Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Gharagozlou Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Children's Medical Center Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Alireza Shafiei Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Bahrami Children's Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijaai.v22i5.13990

Keywords: Asthma attack, Children, Montelukast

Abstract

Oral Montelukast is recommended as maintenance therapy for persistent asthma, but there is controversy regarding its effectiveness in controlling asthma attacks. The present study was conducted to investigate the clinical efficacy of oral Montelukast for asthma attacks in children.

This study was conducted as a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial on 80 children aged 1-14 years with asthma who were admitted to the emergency department of Bahrami Children's Hospital (Tehran, Iran) during one year. Patients were randomly divided into case and control groups. In addition to the standard asthma attack treatment, Montelukast was prescribed in the case group and placebo in the control group for one week. Patients were evaluated in terms of asthma attack severity score and oxygen saturation percentage (SpO2) in room air as primary outcomes 1, 4, 8, 24 and 48 hours after admission.

In the first 48 hours, there was no significant difference in the score of asthma attack severity and SpO2 between the case and control groups. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of length of hospitalization or number of admissions to the intensive care unit. None of the patients were re-hospitalized after discharge.

The results of this study showed that the use of Montelukast along with the standard treatment of asthma attacks in children has no added benefit.