Anti-histamines for prolonged non-specific cough in children
Abstract
Background: Non-specific cough is defined as non-productive cough in the absence of identifiable respiratory disease or known aetiology. It is commonly seen in paediatric practice. These children are treated with a variety of therapies including anti-histamines. Also, anti-histamines are advocated as an empirical treatment in adults with chronic cough.
Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of anti-histamines in treating children with prolonged non-specific cough.
Search strategy: We searched the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, OLDMEDLINE and EMBASE databases. The latest searches were performed in November 2007.
Selection criteria: All randomised controlled trials comparing anti-histamines with a placebo or placebo-like medication with cough as an outcome, where cough is not primarily related to an underlying respiratory disorder such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, or suppurative lung disease.
Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently assessed study quality and extracted data.
Main results: Three included therapeutic studies had 182 randomised participants with 162 completing the trials although in one study, children with recurrent wheeze were also included. The two included safety evaluation studies randomised 963 participants with 793 completing the trials. Clinical heterogeneity was evident and limited data prevented combining data for meta-analysis. The two larger therapeutic studies described significant improvement in…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a systematic review, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 963 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: Cross-Sectional Study Among Medical Students on Application, Education, and Ethical Aspects
- Information quality of videos related to esophageal cancer on tiktok, kwai, and bilibili: a cross-sectional study
- The quality and reliability of short videos about hypertension on TikTok: a cross-sectional study
- Quality and reliability evaluation of pancreatic cancer-related video content on social short video platforms: a cross-sectional study
- Quality and reliability of pediatric pneumonia related short videos on mainstream platforms: cross-sectional study
- Association between metabolic score for insulin resistance (METS-IR) and hypertension: a cross-sectional study based on NHANES 2007–2018
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.