Montelukast Added to Standard Therapy for Acute Asthma in Children Age 6-14 Years

We hypothesized that children with moderate acute asthma exacerbations receiving oral montelukast in addition to standard therapy will have at least 12% greater FEV1 improvement in three hours than those receiving standard therapy alone. In this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study, we enrolled emergency patients aged 6-14 years with moderate acute asthma exacerbations (initial PEFR 40-70% predicted). Subjects received montelukast 5-mg or placebo orally then standard therapy consisting of weight-based doses of nebulized albuterol, nebulized ipratropium bromide, and oral corticosteroids. We measured FEV1 before study medication administration and hourly for three hours. We conducted a planned an interim analysis after approximately one-half of the estimated sample had been enrolled.