Intranasally administered immunoglobulin for the prevention of rhinitis in children

: Heikkinen T, Ruohola A, Ruuskanen O, Waris M, Uhari M, Hammarstrom L

Publisher: LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS

: 1998

: Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal

: PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE JOURNAL

: PEDIATR INFECT DIS J

: 17

: 5

: 367

: 372

: 6

: 0891-3668

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00006454-199805000-00004

Objective. To determine the efficacy of intranasally administered immunoglobulin in preventing symptoms of rhinitis in children.Methods. Forty children ages 1 to 4 years who attended day-care centers in Turku, Finland, were enrolled in the double blind, placebo-controlled study. The children were randomly assigned to receive treatment with immunoglobulin, composed mainly of immunoglobulin A, or placebo, both administered as nasal sprays twice daily for 8 weeks. During this medication period and an additional 8-week follow-up period, the parents recorded the symptoms of the children daily in the diaries provided. One child who met an exclusion criterion was withdrawn from the study after a few days of medication.Results. During the 8-week medication period the 19 children in the immunoglobulin group had 42% fewer days with rhinitis than the 20 children receiving placebo (mean, 10.8 vs. 18.7 days; P = 0.004). The total numbers of episodes of rhinitis in the immunoglobulin and placebo groups were 33 and 51, respectively. No significant differences were observed between the groups during the postmedication follow-up period.Conclusions. Intranasal administration of immunoglobulin appears to be an effective method to prevent symptoms of rhinitis in children, and further studies of this approach are needed.