Benadryl edges Clarinex for hay fever
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Diphenhydramine hydrochloride—more familiarly known as Benadryl—appears to be more effective than desloratadine, a.k.a. Clarinex, in relieving symptoms of moderate to severe hay fever, according to researchers.
“Benadryl provided significantly better overall allergy symptom relief than Clarinex,” investigator Dr. James T. Angello told Reuters Health. “Even more noteworthy in this study is the finding that Benadryl relieved nasal congestion just as well as it reduced allergic rhinitis (i.e., hay fever) symptoms as a whole.”
However, Benadryl caused more drowsiness than Clarinex.
As reported In the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Angello, of Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Morris Plains, New Jersey and colleagues studied 610 patients who were randomly assigned to take 50 milligrams of diphenhydramine three times daily, 5 milligrams of desloratadine once daily, or an inactive placebo.
At the end of the 7-day study, it was found that the average reduction in total nasal symptom scores in the diphenhydramine group relative to placebo was 78 percent. For the desloratadine group, it was 21 percent.
Compared to placebo and desloratadine, diphenhydramine provided significant improvement in scores for all symptoms including nasal congestion. However, although desloratadine had a tendency towards improvement compared with placebo, this reached statistical significance only for sneezing.
Sleepiness was reported by 22 percent of patients taking diphenhydramine, compared with 4 percent of patients taking desloratadine and 3percent of those taking placebo.
This research was supported by a grant from Pfizer, which markets Benadryl.
SOURCE: Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, April 2006.
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