Treating asthma in children with beclomethasone dipropionate: Pulvinal versus Diskhaler

Seventy-two children (mean age, 10.1 years) with stable moderate asthma who completed a 7-day run-in period were randomized to receive a 4-week treatm ent with beclomethasone dipropionate (200 mu g twice daily) administered th rough two different powder inhalers (Pulvinal; Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A, P arma, Italy and Diskhaler; Glaxo-Wellcome, Evreux, France) in a parallel gr oup design. Sixty-nine patients completed the study. Morning and evening pe ak expiratory flow values, the use of rescue salbutamol, and the severity o f clinical symptoms were recorded daily on a diary card. Pulmonary function tests were performed at baseline and then after 2 and 4 weeks of treatment . Pulmonary function values, daily morning and evening peak expiratory flow , and most of the clinical symptoms significantly improved, although the us e of rescue salbutamol significantly decreased from the second week of trea tment until the end of the study in both groups. Equivalence of efficacy be tween groups was demonstrated for both pulmonary function and clinical para meters. We conclude that the Pulvinal inhaler is as efficacious as the Disk haler in beclomethasone-based therapy of asthmatic children.