lafutidine and Urticaria

Topics: Acetamides; Adolescent; Adult; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Histamine H1 Antagonists; Histamine H2 Antagonists; Humans; Male; Non-Neuronal Cholinergic System; Piperidines; Pyridines; Quality of Life; Urticaria; Young Adult

We conducted a retrospective cohort study evaluating the efficacy and usefulness of the addition of lafutidine, a novel histamine H2-receptor antagonist, in treatment of patients with idiopathic chronic urticaria whose disease was not well controlled with histamine H1-receptor antagonists. Based on the assessment of global improvement, moderate or better improvement was achieved in 39 of 46 patients (85%) after 1-3 weeks of additional administration of lafutidine and 35 patients (76%) after 3 months. No incidence of drug-related adverse reactions was reported in any patient. Lafutidine was rated as useful or better in 34 patients (74%) after 3 months of treatment. The usefulness of the drug was not affected by differences in background factors, such as disease duration, previous treatment duration and the number of concomitant H1-receptor antagonists. Lafutidine appears to be a promising addition to histamine H1-receptor antagonist therapy for the treatment of chronic urticaria resistant to treatment with H1-receptor antagonists alone.

Topics: Acetamides; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Chronic Disease; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Histamine H1 Antagonists; Histamine H2 Antagonists; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Piperidines; Pyridines; Retrospective Studies; Urticaria; Young Adult