Summary
A double-blind cross-over study was performed in 12 healthy female volunteers comparing cetirizine di-HCl (10 mg) and sustained release dexchlorpheniramine maleate (6 mg) with respect to attentuation of histamine-induced skin wheals and subjective central nervous system (CNS) effects. Cetirizine was significantly more effective than dexchlorpheniramine in suppressing the size of wheals from 2 to 24 h after drug administration. In fact, at 24 h cetirizine was still as affective as 2 h after ingestion. Ten subjects receiving dexchlorpheniramine reported subjective symptoms relating to CNS depression, in contrast to only one subject given cetirizine.
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Müller, F.O., Botha, J.J., van Dyk, M. et al. Attenuation of cutaneous reactivity to histamine by cetirizine and dexchlorpheniramine. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 35, 319–321 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00558272
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00558272