A Comparison of the Efficacy of Plantago major Aqueous Extract with Cetirizine in Treatment of Acute Urticaria: a Double-blind, Randomized Controlled Trial

Urticaria, as one of the skin disorders affecting p atients’ quality of life is characterized with pruritic erythematous and edematous self-limited lesions. Regarding the h ypersensitivity nature of this disorder, suppressio n of mast cell activity and antihistamine release constitutes the core of current therapeutic guidelines. In Persian traditional medicine Plantago major L. (Plantago) has been freq uently mentioned effective in treatment of urticari al lesions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects o f Plantago on urticarial lesions and compare it wit h the common antihistamine, Cetirizine. In this double-blind ran domized clinical trial, 48 patients with urticaria, referred to dermatology wards of Razi, Loghman, and Tajrish cli nics, Tehran, Iran, were followed up during the yea r 2013. Participants were randomly divided into two groups, each being treated with either Plantago extract or cetirizine. The number of lesions was recorded daily and satisf action was evaluated depend on type of treatment. D ata were analyzed with SPSS software (version17.0). A total of 48 patients including 20 males and 28 females wi th the age range of 10 to 70 were participated in this study. The median duration of therapy was 4.086 and 6.545 days for Plantago and Cetirizine, respectively. Based on res ults, Plantago proved to be more effective, althoug h the difference was not statistically significant.The re sults of this study indicated that Plantago extract would be applied in treatment of patients with urticaria, as there w as a near-significant decrease in duration of treat ment.