Treatment of the common cold.

BACKGROUND: Common colds are usually treated by the patients themselves with over-the-counter (OTC) cold medications. Many cough and cold remedies are available and sold freely without prescription. The authors conducted a study to compare the efficacy, adverse effects, the quality of life (QOL) and the patient's opinion and appreciation on the drugs (POD) between Dayquil/Nyquil and Actifed DM plus paracetamol syrup. METHOD: In this prospective, investigator-blinded clinical trial, 120 patients, aged between 15 and 60 years old, with common colds within 72 hours, who accepted the trial and gave informed written consent, were randomized into two treatment groups. One patient was excluded due to evidence of bacterial infection. Fifty-nine patients were treated with Dayquil/Nyquil (D/N group), while the other 60 patients had Actifed DM plus paracetamol (ADM/P group) for three days. On day 1 the patient's demographic data (sex, age, body weight, blood pressure, co-existing diseases/conditions, drug use, and allergy to any drugs), the most prominent symptoms and its duration were recorded. All patients were screened for bacterial infection by physical examination, complete blood count and sinus radiographs. The symptoms (nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, sneezing, cough, sore throat, fever and headache) and signs (injected nasal mucosa, nasal discharge and pharyngeal discharge) were scored, based on 4-point scale (0 to 3), on days 1 and 4. Changing of the symptoms and QOL were recorded on the diary card. The patient's opinion and appreciation on the drugs (POD) was assessed on day 4. The effectiveness (the ability to lessen the symptoms and signs), QOL and POD between two treatments were compared. RESULTS: The demographic data between the two groups were similar. The four most common prominent symptoms of common colds in our series were cough (47.9%), sore throat (26.17%), rhinorrhea (8.4%) and headache (8.4%). However, both treatments were equally effective in lessening the symptoms (P = 0.426) and signs (P = 0.716) of common cold from days 1 to 4. The adverse effects were significantly higher in ADM/P group than in D/N group (p = 0.006). In contrast, QOL in terms of alertness, freshness and sound sleep improved from day 1 to day 3 in both treatments, but the overall day-3 score was significantly higher in the D/N group than the ADM/P group (1.85 +/- 1.83; 1.25 +/- 1.94: p = 0.024). POD in terms of convenience, flavour of drug, effectiveness of the drug and a need to repeat the drug assessed on day 4, was also significantly higher in the D/N group than the ADM/P group (10.68 +/- 2.56; 8.92 +/- 2.27: p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Dayquil/Nyquil are as effective as Actifed DM plus paracetamol in controlling the symptoms and signs of the common cold, but have fewer adverse effects. The quality of life assessed during the use of the drugs was significantly higher in the Dayquil/Nyquil group, and according to the patients, they prefered Dayquil/Nyquil more than Actifed DM plus paracetamol.

Efficacy and safety of Ascoril in the management of cough--National Study Group report.

A total of 768 patients were recruited by 81 physicians and paediatricians all over the country in this National Study Group of 'Ascoril + Expectorant'. The results of this first large scale study of a cough formula indicates that 'Ascoril + Expectorant' is effective in controlling cough, breathlessness and decreasing the volume of sputum. No serious adverse events were noted. Ascoril was well accepted by the patients and its efficacy was rated very high by the physician. The National Study Group concludes that 'Ascoril + Expectorant' is highly effective in the management of cough associated with lower respiratory tract infection and COPDs.

Medicamentos utilizados em criancas para tratamento do resfriado comum: risco vs. beneficios / Medications used in children for cold treatment: risks vs benefits

A autora apresenta uma revisao sobre a eficacia e efeitos adversos dos medicamentos utilizados no tratamento da rinofaringite aguda da crianca.

Importancia de la acción aditiva mucolítico-antibiótico de amplio espectro en las enfermedades broncopulmonares / Importance of mucolytic-wide spectrum antibiotic summation in bronchopulmonary diseases

Se seleccionaron 200 pacintes de ambos sexos del servicio de Neumología con edades comprendidas ente 12 y 81 años, los cuales fueron sometidos a un estudio doble ciego. Se distribuyeron al azar, en dos grupos semejantes "A" y "B", se eliminaron desde un principio 72 pacientes por no llenar los requisitos del estudio. Con el propósito de conocer la etiología bacteriana de sus padecimientos broncopulmonares, se les practicó cultivo de expectoración. Se encontraron cultivos positivos sensibles al antibiótico en 600 pacientes de grupo A y 68 del grupo B, siendo éste el univers final a estudiar. Los padecimientos preponderantes fueron: enfisema pulmonar infectado (33.59% ), bronquiis crónica agudizada (30.46% ), bronquitis asmática infectada (22.65% ) y bronquitis aguda (13.28% ). Los gérmenes aislados sensibles al antibiótico fueronÑ Strep. pneumoniae (7% ), Strep. spp (32.0% ), H. influenzae (17.9% ), Staph. aureus (12.5% ) y Serratia spp (0.8% ). El grupo "A" recibió cápsulas de ampicilina 9500 mg) = bromhexina (8 mg) y el grupo "B" recibió cápsulas de ampicilina (500 mg). Las dosis se administraron en base a peso: 50 mg de ampicilina por kilo de peso/día fraccionadas en un patrón posológico de cada 6 horas. Los resultados finales muestran cómo la combinación del mucolítico con antibiótico produjo en esta serie de pacientes, un número mayor de curaciones y más tempranas 7 +- 2 días que cuando se administró el antibiótico sólo 12 +- 2 días, diferencia que es signifiativa p+ 0.0001. Los efectos colaterales fueron escasos en ambos grupos