A Trial of Disodium Cromoglycate in Older Asthmatics

A double-blind cross-over trial comparing disodium cromoglycate (“intal”) with a placebo over a period of four weeks was carried out on older asthmatics. Of 25 patients who successfully completed the trial, 19 were judged to be better receiving the cromoglycate than the placebo, whereas six were considered better when receiving the placebo (P < 0.05). Analysis of the severity of symptoms from diary cards kept by the patients showed that symptoms were less during treatment with cromoglycate than during the control period. This difference reached statistical significance for degree of wheeze, tightness of the chest and cough. Corticosteroid dosage was significantly less during cromoglycate treatment than during the control period. There was a tendency for the FEV, and the vital capacity to improve during cromoglycate therapy, but this did not reach statistical significance for the FEV1 and was borderline for the vital capacity. Possibly as a result of the type of patient treated, the present results are not as good as those obtained in some other trials. Nevertheless, useful improvement was obtained in some older patients with persistent asthma. Not all older asthmatics benefit from disodium cromoglycate therapy. However, response was not found to be related to presence of sputum, low FEV1, negative skin-allergy tests or low atropine tests.