Table 4

Overview of results and set up of controlled mattress cover studies

	Study set up						Parameters
Author	No of patients	Age	Design	Duration (weeks)	Carpet	Acaricide	Der p 1	PC₂₀ histamine	Symptoms	Peak flow	Medication
open c=open controlled; pl c=placebo controlled; r c=randomised controlled; r db pl=randomised double blind placebo controlled; r sb pl=randomized single blind placebo controlled; ND=not done; +=significant change; –=not significant change.
Sarsfield²⁸	14	Children	open c	52	–	–	+	ND	+	ND	ND
Murray²⁶	20	Children	pl c	4	–	–	–	+	+	ND	ND
Walshaw²⁹	50	Adults	pl c	52	+	–	+	+	+	ND	ND
Gillies²³	24	Children	open c	12	+	–	–	–	–	ND	ND
Ehnert⁸	24	Children	open c	52	+	+	+	+	ND	ND	ND
Marks²²	35	Adults	r c	26	+	+	–	–	–	–	ND
Weeks²⁰	56	Children	r db pl	24	+	+	+	ND	ND	ND	ND
Carswell¹⁹	70	Children	r db pl	24	+	+	+	–	ND	–	ND
van der Heide⁹	59	Adults	open c	52	+	+	+	+	ND	ND	ND
Frederick¹⁰	31	Children	r sb pl	12	+	–	+	–	–	–	–
van der Heide⁹	45	Adults	open c	26	+	–	+	–	ND	ND	ND
Cloosterman¹⁴	29	Adults	r sb pl	6	+	+	ND	ND	+	–	ND
Sporik²¹	85	Children	open c	78	+	+	–	ND	ND	ND	ND
Cloosterman¹¹	157	Adults	r db pl	20	+	+	+	–	–	–	ND