Abstract
In patients in whom treatment using anti-allergic agents is not effective for the itching associated with atopic dermatitis and other conditions, a change in medication is often attempted. However there have been a limited number of reported studies investigating the effectiveness of this approach. Therefore, we studied the efficacy of loratadine in patients whose treatment with other antihistamines was ineffective using SCORAD index, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). Twenty patients (17 patients with atopic dermatitis, 3 patients with other pruritic skin diseases) were treated with loratadine 5∼10 mg, once daily for 4 weeks and skin symptoms (SCORAD, VAS) and QOL (DLQI) were evaluated. At the end of the study, skin symptoms significantly improved from 31.6 at baseline to 15.2 after 4 weeks of treatment. Itching improved from 60.8 at baseline to 27.0 after 4 weeks (1st week : 40.1, 2nd week : 33.2, 4th week : 27.2), and sleeplessness due to itching improved from 31.1 at baseline to 9.2 (1st week : 18.2, 2nd week : 13.2, 4th week : 8.0). Both measurements showed significant improvement. The improvements were observed less than a week after administration. At baseline, the total QOL score was 4.2 ; subscale scores were 2.4 for “symptoms and feelings”, 0.9 for “daily living”, and 0.7 for “work and school”. At the end of the study, the total score was 2.2, showing a significant improvement ; other scales also showed improvement. Taken together, improvements were observed not only in assessments by physicians but also in the patient self-assessments (VAS and DLQI). Thus, if treatment with other antihistamines is ineffective, a change in medication may be helpful, and loratadine seems to be very useful for those cases.
