Macrolides reduce mortality risk in patients with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia
Israel: A recent study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases showed that empirical therapy with macrolides among patients with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (BPP) reduced mortality risk by 45%. The effect was apparent with azithromycin and with roxithromycin and did not require a full course of therapy.
Previous cohort studies of pneumonia patients have demonstrated lower mortality with advanced macrolides. Michal Chowers, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel, and colleagues, therefore, aimed to characterize antibiotic treatment patterns and assess the role of quinolones or macrolides in empirical therapy.
For this purpose, the researchers included all culture-confirmed bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (BPP) among adults in Israel in a historical cohort, 1/7/2009–30/6/2017 through active surveillance. Cases without information on antibiotic treatment were excluded. Independent predictors of in-hospital mortality were assessed using Logistic regression analysis.
A total of 2016 patients with BPP (median age 67.2 years; 55.1% were men) were identified.
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