Efficacy of treatment with montelukast, fluticasone propionate and budesonide liquid suspension for the prevention of recurrent asthma paroxysms in children with wheezing disorders

One-third of the children who suffer from first-time wheezing are estimated to experience recurrences; however, no standard therapeutic strategy with which to prevent these recurrences currently exists. A few studies have compared the three drugs commonly used for the treatment of persistent asthma in children to identify the most effective one for preventing recurrent wheezing. In this study, in an aim to determine the most effective of these drugs, we recruited patients <5 years of age with recurrent wheezing at our hospital, and assigned them randomly to either the oral montelukast [leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA)], the inhaled fluticasone propionate (FP), or the inhaled budesonide suspension (BUD) groups for 12-week treatments. We then determined the treatment efficacy (symptomatic improvement) by recording the number of wheezing episodes and emergency visits, the daily treatment cost, the mean accumulated down time and the patient compliance; we then compared the results among the groups. All treatments were found to be equally effective. The daily cost of inhaled FP was lower than that of oral LTRA and inhaled BUD (P<0.00001). The difference in the mean accumulated down time between these groups was not significant (P=0.132). The adherence (patient compliance) to LTRA was significantly higher than the adherence to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) (P<0.017). On the whole, the findings of this study indicated that all three treatments prevented recurrent wheezing in our pediatric population. FP was found to be more convenient, to require fewer doses, and that it could be easily adjusted. Patient adherence/compliance to treatment was significantly better with LTRA than with ICS.