Mathematical evaluation of the efficacy of montelukast in pediatric patients with asthma

Aim

To evaluate the impact of adding of the leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA) montelukast on the efficacy of antiasthmatic therapy in children.

Material and methods

In a retrospective study, we evaluated the medical records of 608 pediatric patients with bronchial asthma (BA) who were admitted to the hospital in2014-2015. We estimated the absolute efficacy of treatmentin the exposed and unexposed to montelucast groups, the attributable efficacy, the relative efficacy, and the population attributable efficacy along with their standard errors and con-fidence intervals (CIs). Calculations were based on the riskfactor concept.

Results

The absolute efficacy of treatment was 91.85%(95% CI 90.15–93.55) in the exposed to montelucast group of patients and 74.85% (95% CI 72.49–77.21%) in the unex-posed group, the attributal efficacy was 17.00% (95% CI10.91–23.09), the relative efficacy was 1.23 (95% CI0.21–2.24), and the population attributable efficacy was7.55% (95% CI 2.49–12.61).

Conclusion

In a retrospective study, adding of montelukast was associdated with an increase in the clinical efficacy of antiasthmatic therapy in pediatric patients.

Key words

Bronchial asthma, children, drug therapy, antiasthmatic treatment, efficacy.