A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 2 studies with a total of 262 children. Asthma symptoms which included cough was an inclusion criteria in the first included study (n=256) and it was not possible to separate children with non-specific cough from those without. There was no difference in all study endpoints between the montelukast and placebo groups. Cough was not reported as an outcome measure, thus cough-specific related outcomes cannot be described. Clinical adverse events were also not different between groups and no serious adverse events occurred in either group. The second study had a subgroup that fulfilled the criteria (cough only) but the effect of the intervention could not be estimated as the sample size was too small (n=6).
Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (unclear allocation concealment), by indirectness (differences in studied patients), and by imprecise results (limited study size for each comparison).
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