Desloratadine for chronic urticaria

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of desloratadine in the treatment of chronic urticaria.Methods Nity-two adult patients with chronic urticaria were randomly divided into study group and control group,46 for each group.The study group received 10 mg desloratadine orally once daily for 28 days,while the control group received cetirizin orally.The efficacy was assessed by the total scores for symptoms and signs.Results 28 days after treatment,the cure rate was 82.61％ and the total effectiveness rate was 95.65％ in the study group; and they were 60.87％ and 80.43％ in the control group,respectively.The efficacy differed significantly between the two groups ( Uc =6.0922,P=0.0136 ).Hypersomnia occurred in one patient in the study group but in sixteen patients in the control group.There were significant differences in adverse reactions between the two groups ( x2=14.5607,P ＜ 0.01 ).Conclusions Desloratadine is effective and safe in the treatment of chronic urticaria. Key words: Desloratadine; Chronic urticaria; Cetirizine