Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 1: Use of non-sedating antihistamines in the common cold.

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether non-sedating antihistamines reduced symptom severity or duration in the common cold. 156 papers were found using the reported searches, of which 4 presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. It is concluded that there is no good evidence for the use of non-sedating antihistamines in the common cold.