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Azithromycin therapy in hospitalized infants with acute bronchiolitis is not associated with better clinical outcomes: a randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled clinical trial
- Source :
- The Journal of pediatrics. 161(6)
- Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- To test the hypothesis that azithromycin reduces the length of hospitalization and oxygen requirement in infants with acute viral bronchiolitis (AB).We performed a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial in southern Brazil, from 2009 to 2011. Infants (12 months of age) hospitalized with AB were recruited in 2 hospitals. Patients were randomized to receive either azithromycin or placebo, administered orally, for 7 days. At enrollment, clinical data were recorded and nasopharyngeal samples were collected for viral identification through immunofluorescence. Main outcomes were duration of oxygen requirement and length of hospitalization.One hundred eighty-four patients were included in the study (azithromycin 88 subjects, placebo 96 subjects). Baseline clinical characteristics and viral identification were not different between the groups studied. A virus was detected in 112 (63%) patients, and of those, 92% were positive for respiratory syncytial virus. The use of azithromycin did not reduce the median number of days of either hospitalization (P = .28) or oxygen requirement (P = .47).Azithromycin did not improve major clinical outcomes in a large sample of hospitalized infants with AB, even when restricting the findings to those with positive respiratory syncytial virus samples. Azithromycin therapy should not be given for AB because it provides no benefit and overuse increases overall antibiotic resistance.
- Subjects :
- Male
medicine.medical_specialty
medicine.drug_class
Antibiotics
Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Administration, Oral
Drug resistance
Kaplan-Meier Estimate
Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections
Azithromycin
Placebo
Drug Administration Schedule
Antibiotic resistance
Double-Blind Method
Internal medicine
Influenza, Human
medicine
Bronchiolitis, Viral
Humans
Intensive care medicine
Paramyxoviridae Infections
business.industry
Infant, Newborn
Oxygen Inhalation Therapy
Infant
Length of Stay
medicine.disease
Combined Modality Therapy
Clinical trial
Hospitalization
Treatment Outcome
Bronchiolitis
Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
Acute Disease
Bronchitis
Female
business
medicine.drug
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10976833
- Volume :
- 161
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of pediatrics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b96f55c91b80545c3aff9ac3ca9fd153