The effect of cetirizine prophylactic treatment on patients with Japanese cedar pollinosis-The 2nd report-

Abstract

The effectiveness of cetirizine prophylactic treatment for the health-related QOL for Japanese cedar pollinosis was investigated by a SF-36 questionnaire during peak pollen exposure periods. This study was performed in 3 areas of Japan: Osaka, Tokushima and Okayama over a two-week period from March 5 to 19, 2001. Patients who had taken 10mg of cetirizine once daily prior to entering this study were classified as the Treated group, while the patients without any previous treatments were classified as the Non-treated group. Seventy-three for the Treated group and 210 for the Non-treated group were selected for this study. As a result, all SF-36 subscales for the Treated group were higher than for the Non-treated group. The RP, VT, and RE scores for the Treated group were significantly higher than for the Non-treated group. In the Treated group, the patients with less than one week of treatment showed a lower score in most subscales, thus indicating that the longer the treatment period, the higher the QOL score. These results therefore showed cetirizine prophylactic treatment for Japanese cedar pollinosis to effectively improve patient QOL.