Rôle du Montelukast dans le traitement de l'asthme de l'enfant en âge préscolaire. Réflexions sur l'étude PREVIA

Leukotriene receptor antagonists are a new class of drugs, of which, montelukast is the only one so far approved for paediatric use under the age of 12 years. Its efficacy has been demonstrated in persistent asthma in 6 to 14 and 2 to 5 year old children. The PREVIA study also recently demonstrated its potential in the prevention of viral exacerbations of mild intermittent asthma in children aged 2 to 5 years, an effect not verified for inhaled corticosteroids (IC). Montelukast may thus play a useful role in the management of asthma in young children, either as an add-on treatment to IC in persistent asthma or as single therapy in intermittent viral induced asthma. Different wheezing phenotypes in infancy and early childhood should desirably be identifiable at their onset in order to allow proper testing of the available treatments so that treatment options may in the future be rationally established.