Abstract
Cough has an impact on quality of life of children and adults, thus often requiring an empiric treatment with antitussive agents. Levodropropizine is a very well tolerated peripheral drug, while central cough suppressants may be associated with side effects, especially in children.
The aim of our 2 metanalysis is to evaluate the overall comparative efficacy of levodropropizine in both children and adults. A first standardized metanalysis of 4 controlled clinical studies of levodropropizine (3 vs central antitussives, 1 vs placebo) included a total of 780 children. A second metanalysis of 7 controlled clinical studies of Levodropropizine (5 vs central drugs, 2 vs placebo) included 2633 patients, both children and adults.
First metanalysis of all standardized efficacy parameters (cough frequency, severity, night awakenings,) in children, showed highly statistically significant difference in the overall antitussive efficacy in favor of Levodropropizine vs. controls (p = 0.001). Heterogeneity was not statistically significant (p=0.0619).
Second metanalysis in adults and children alsoshowed highly statistically significant difference in the overall antitussive efficacy in favor of levodropropizine vs. control treatments (p = 0.0044). Heterogeneity was not statistically significant (p=0.0856).
Our two metanalysis indicate that Levodropropizine is an effective antitussive drug both in adults and children, with statistically significant better overall efficacy outcomes vs. central antitussives, in terms of reducing cough intensity, frequency and nocturnal awakenings. These results further reinforce the favorable benefit/risk profile of Levodropropizine in the management of cough in pediatric and adult settings.
- © 2014 ERS
