Hallucination development with montelukast in a child with asthma: case presentation

• Published in: Iranian journal of allergy, asthma, and immunology Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 397 - 399
• Main Authors: Kocyigit, Aysen, Gulcan Oksuz, Banu, Yarar, Fulya, Uzun, Funda, Igde, Mahir, Islek, Ismail
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Iran Tehran University of Medical Sciences 01.12.2013
• Subjects: Acetates - adverse effects; Adolescent; Adult; Adverse reactions; Asthma; Asthma - drug therapy; Behavior; Children; Cytokines; Drug therapy; Hallucination; Hallucinations - chemically induced; Humans; Leukotriene Antagonists - adverse effects; Male; Metabolites; Montelukast; Pediatrics; Quinolines - adverse effects
• ISSN: 1735-1502; 1735-5249

Leukotriene receptor antagonists(montelukast) have been used for many years in the treatment of asthma both acute and chronic stages. They are accepted commonly as safe but mostly possible side effects are ignored. However, montelukast also could lead to important adverse reactions like hallucinations. In literature only 2 reports have been found about hallucinations with it. One is a study which reports 3 patients from 48 children and the other is a 29 year-old case report. In our case, psychiatric adverse reactions of montelukast,especially hallucinations are reported similarly. We are presenting a child who had visual hallucinations after starting to use montekulast and after stopping the medicine these complaints disappeared in 48 hours. Although it is a safe drug, it should not be forgotten that it has psychiatric side effects which may be missed easily especially in children.