[Preventive treatment of asthma with ketotifen : an analysis of 1 791 cases treated in general practice].

Ketotifene is a new preventive treatment for asthma possessing the main advantage of being administered orally. Results were analyzed after treatment of 1 791 patients with allergic paroxysmal asthma, at a daily dose of 2 mg for a minimum duration of 3 months. Ketotifene was found to be effective both against asthma attacks (no further episodes in 30% of cases, and reduction in their frequency by at least a half in 35%), and by the fact that associated anti-asthma medication could be suppressed. Positive effects were noted after two weeks of treatment, with improvement increasing during the observation period (3 months). Tolerance was good, the principal side effect being somnolence (13% of cases), which occurred early in treatment but was reversible in more than one-third of these patients.