Background: Allergic rhinitis affects 20 million of people in United States and a higher figure all around the world.
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of fexofenadine compared with certirizine in the treatment of allergic rhinitis.
Material and method: It was carried out a prospective, double blind, comparative, randomized and multicentric study in patients with allergic rhinitis, with ages between 12 and 65 years. In the first phase, placebo was administered during three days to all the patients; and then, they were randomly allocated to receive fexofenadine 120 mg or cetirizine 10 mg in one dose a day during 14 days. Laboratory and cabinet tests at the beginning and at the end were performed to value security, as well as a global evaluation of the researcher to estimate effectiveness.
Results: 176 patients were included, 63.6% were women, average age was 27 years (+/- 12), 47.7% received fexofenadine and 52.2%, cetirizine. There was not significant difference in parameters of effectiveness nor of security in the studied group.
Conclusion: The results of the present study confirm the efficacy and safety of the antihistaminic fexofenadine in the treatment of allergic rhinitis.