Conditions: Allergic Rhinitis
Keywords: Allergic Rhinitis
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Enrollment: 30
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine whether cetirizine (zyrtec), levocetirizine (xyzal), and placebo differ in the degree of sedation they produce and their relief of allergy symptoms.

Detailed description:
Levocetirizine, the R-enantiomer of cetirizine, has been found to be less sedating relative to placebo than was cetirizine in separate trials. We plan to examine whether patients who did not tolerate cetirizine due to sedation are able to tolerate levocetirizine. This study will utilize a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial comparing levocetirizine, cetirizine, and placebo in regards to sedation and allergy symptom scores. Each patient will receive levocetirizine, cetirizine, and placebo in randomized order and thus serve as their own control.

Arms:
arm 1: 5 mg daily x 7 days (note = cross over = all participants receive active comparators and placebo) arm 2: 10 mg daily x 7 days. Note = crossover study, so all participants recieve all active comparators and placebo. arm 3: one tablet daily x 7 days; note that this is a crossover study so all participants receive all active comparators and placebo

Interventions: intervention 1: Cetirizine intervention 2: Levocetirizine intervention 3: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Cetirizine 10 mg tab daily x 7 days intervention 2: 5 mg tab daily x 7 days intervention 3: Placebo tablet daily x 7 days

Protocol document: