Corrections: Corrections - May 15, 2000 - American Family Physician

May 15, 2000 Table of Contents

Correction

Am Fam Physician. 2000 May 15;61(10):2972.

An item in “Tips from Other Journals,” entitled “Overview of Methods for Treating Allergic Rhinitis” (January 1, 2000, page 207), contained dosage errors in the accompanying table on second-generation antihistamines. The dosage approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for cetirizine is 5 to 10 mg once daily; the approved dosage for loratadine is 10 mg once daily and the approved dosage for loratadine with pseudoephedrine is 10 mg/240 mg once daily. The half-life of claritin was misstated; it is 28 hours. The corrected table is reprinted below.

TABLE 1
Second-Generation Antihistamines

Generic	Brand	Onset of action	Half-life	Usual dosage	Cost*	Comments
Cetirizine	Zyrtec	15 to 30 minutes	7 to 9 hours	5 to 10 mg daily	$55.80	Also available in syrup (5 mg per 5 mL); may cause drowsiness
Fexofenadine	Allegra	1 hour	14 to 18 hours	60 mg twice daily	59.65
Fexofenadine/Pseudoephedrine	Allegra-D	1 hour	14 to 18 hours	60 mg/120 mg twice daily	66.71	Active metabolite of terfenadine; devoid of cardiotoxic risk
Loratadine	Claritin	1 to 3 hours	28 hours	10 mg daily	65.66	Also available in syrup (5 mg per 5 mL) and rapidly disintegrating tablets
Loratadine/Pseudoephedrine	Claritin-D 12			5 mg/120 mg twice daily	74.00
Loratadine/Pseudoephedrine	Claritin-D 24			10 mg/240 mg daily	73.49
Azelastine	Astelin	Within 1 hour	22 to 25 hours	2 sprays per nostril twice daily	44.76	May cause drowsiness

*—Estimated cost to the pharmacist based on average wholesale prices in Red book. Montvale, N.J.: Medical Economics Data, 1999. Cost to the patient will be higher, depending on prescription filling fee.

Reprinted with permission from Lee NP, Arriola ER. How to treat allergic rhinitis. West J Med 1999;171:31–4.

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