Maintenance of remission with low-dose olopatadine hydrochloride for itch in well-controlled chronic urticaria

intenance of remission with low-dose olopatadine hydrochloride for itch in well-controlled chronic urticaria Original Research (1366) Total Article Views Authors: Makino T, Takegami Y, Rehman MU, Yoshihisa Y, Ishida W, Toyomoto T, Shimizu T Published Date September 2012 Volume 2012:5 Pages 141 - 146 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S36812 Received: 07 August 2012 Accepted: 30 August 2012 Published: 19 September 2012 Teruhiko Makino,1 Yoshiaki Takegami,1 Mati Ur Rehman,1 Yoko Yoshihisa,1 Waka Ishida,2 Takashi Toyomoto,3 Tadamichi Shimizu1 1Department of Dermatology, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan; 2Department of Dermatology, Niigata Central Hospital, Joetsu, Japan; 3Department of Dermatology, Saiseikai Takaoka Hospital, Takaoka, Japan Background: The long-term follow-up of chronic urticaria (CU) is important to ensure the adequate treatment of patients. Olopatadine hydrochloride is one of the second-generation nonsedating antihistamines. Methods: This study was designed to assess the optimal dose of olopatadine to suppress symptoms of chronic urticarial itch in well-controlled patients. After CU patients were treated with 10 mg olopatadine, patients having a visual analogue scale (VAS) itch score of less than 20 were randomly allocated into one of three groups: 10 mg/day (n = 35), 5 mg/day (n = 30), or no medication (n = 32). Results: The suppressive effects of both the 5 mg and 10 mg olopatadine treatments on the VAS itch score were more significant and longer lasting over a period of 4 weeks than the no-medication treatment. Both the 5-mg group and the 10-mg group showed improved urticarial symptoms and maintained their VAS itch score within normal limits compared to the no-medication group. The differences between the 5-mg and 10-mg groups were not significant. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that treatment with olopatadine at a dose of 5 mg once daily is effective and safe for the management and prevention of CU symptoms for itch in well-controlled patients.