Featured Review: Adverse events in people taking macrolide antibiotics versus placebo for any indication

The review 'Adverse events in people taking macrolide antibiotics'   asked, “Will people taking a macrolide antibiotic experience more adverse events than those treated with placebo?”Macrolide antibiotics are one of many types of antibiotic. They are commonly used to treat both acute and chronic infections. The four most commonly used macrolides are azithromycin, clarithromycin, erythromycin, and roxithromycin. People taking macrolide antibiotics are at risk of experiencing adverse events such as nausea, diarrhoea or rashes.Lead author of the review Malene Plejdrup Hansen explains, “This review was undertaken to quantify adverse events in patients using macrolide antibiotics, independently of the indication or effects of the treatments. The intent is to support clinicians and patients in evaluating harms as well as benefits in the choice of management when antibiotics are considered. ”The review includes 183 studies with 252,886 participants. Most studies were conducted in hospitals. Azithromycin and erythromycin were more commonly studied than clarithromycin and roxithromycin. Most studies (89%) reported some adverse eventsor at least stated that no adverse events were observed. People treated with a macrolide antibiotic experienced gastrointestinal adverse events, such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea more often than those treated with placebo.Taste disturbances were more often reported by people taking macrolides than those taking a placebo. How...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: news