Formulary
Loratadine: Indications, Dosing, Side Effects and Interactions
Loratadine clinical drug profile including indications, dosing, side effects, cautions and interactions.
MedNext Academy | 3 min read
Loratadine: Indications, Dosing, Side Effects and Interactions
Loratadine clinical drug profile including indications, dosing, side effects, cautions and interactions.
Indications and dose
**Symptomatic relief of allergy such as hay fever, chronic idiopathic urticaria**
- **Child** (By Mouth): 12-17 years 10 mg once daily.
- **Adult** (By Mouth): 10 mg once daily.
**Symptomatic relief of allergy such as hay fever, chronic idiopathic urticaria for loratadine**
- **Child 2-11 years (body-weight up to 31 kg)** (By mouth): 5 mg once daily.
- **Child 2-11 years (body-weight 31 kg and above)** (By mouth): 10 mg once daily.
- **Child 12-17 years** (By mouth): 10 mg once daily.
Side effects
Common or very common Drowsiness; nervousness (in children) Uncommon Appetite increased; headache (very common in children); insomnia Rare or very rare Alopecia; angioedema; dizziness; dry mouth; fatigue (very common in children); gastritis; hepatic function abnormal; nausea; palpitations; rash; seizure; tachycardia Side-effects, further information Non-sedating antihistamines such as loratadine cause less sedation and psychomotor impairment than the older antihistamines, but can still occur; sedation is generally minimal. This is because non-sedating antihistamines penetrate the blood brain barrier to a much lesser extent.
Interactions
**Severe interactions:**
- Increase in plasma concentrations of loratadine has been reported after concomitant use with ketoconazole, erythromycin, and cimetidine in controlled trials, but without clinically significant...
**Other interactions (2):**
- When administered concomitantly with alcohol, this medicine has no potentiating effects as measured by psychomotor performance studies.
- Potential interaction may occur with all known inhibitors of CYP3A4 or CYP2D6 resulting in elevated levels of loratadine (see Section 5.2), which may cause an increase in adverse events.
Pregnancy
Most manufacturers of antihistamines advise avoiding their use during pregnancy; however, there is no evidence of teratogenicity.
Breast feeding
Most antihistamines are present in breast milk in varying amounts; although not known to be harmful, most manufacturers advise avoiding their use in mothers who are breast-feeding.
Hepatic impairment
Manufacturer advises caution in severe impairment (risk of increased exposure). Dose adjustments Manufacturer advises initial dose reduction to alternate days in severe impairment.
Medicinal forms
Tablet,Solution
Clinical governance
**Author:** MedNext Clinical Team. **Clinical reviewer:** Dr Shameer Deen, MBBS, MS, MRCS. **Sources:** BNF, Indian Pharmacopoeia, CIMS India. **Correction:** Report errors at support@mednext.academy.
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