Antihistamines as an addition to topical nasal steroids for allergic rhinitis in children

Allergic rhinitis is a very common chronic illness affecting 10% to 40% of children worldwide. Seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever) is most common around springtime. The symptoms are mostly sneezing, a runny nose and watery eyes. We looked for trials that compared antihistamines (either oral or topical) in addition to a topical nasal steroid with a topical nasal steroid alone in children who had allergic rhinitis. We wanted to know whether adding antihistamines (oral or topical) in the therapy of children with allergic rhinitis who already use topical nasal steroids would have additional benefits for them. We found one trial that had been carried out in children comparing oral antihistamines in addition to topical nasal steroids with topical nasal steroids alone but it did not provide sufficient data to draw any conclusions. Most of the trials focused only on adults or included a small number of children. Unfortunately, the trials which included children along with adults did not report whether there were any differences in the effect of treatment or adverse effects in children in comparison with adults. We are therefore unable to draw a conclusion as to whether or not this combination therapy has beneficial effect in children with allergic rhinitis or whether the benefits are acceptable in terms of the adverse effects.