Summary
In this multicentre noncomparative trial, 2523 patients with tonsillitis, sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia or acute exacerbations (superinfections) of chronic bronchitis received oral roxithromycin 150mg twice daily for a minimum of 5 days. A large proportion of patients had previously been unsuccessfully treated with antibiotic therapy for the presenting infections (35% of patients with tonsillitis, 43% of patients with sinusitis and 47% of patients with lower respiratory tract infections had been previously treated).
Overall, roxithromycin therapy was successful in 94% of patients, ranging from a 97.1% success rate in patients with pneumonia to one of 87.4% in patients with superinfections exacerbating chronic bronchitis. The median (± SD) duration of therapy was 6.7 ± 2.2 days in patients with lower respiratory tract infections, 6.1 ± 1.5 days in patients with tonsillitis and 6.3 ± 2.0 days in patients with sinusitis. Only 8.1% of patients required treatment for more than 9 days. Fever tended to resolve within a little over 2 days in those patients affected.
Roxithromycin was very well tolerated, with 95.7% of patients exhibiting no adverse effects and only 1.3% discontinuing therapy. Most adverse events resolved despite continued therapy.
Thus, roxithromycin is an effective and well tolerated oral treatment for infections of the upper and lower respiratory tracts.
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For members of the Multicentre National Team, see p. 45
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Higuera-Ramirez, F., Hidalgo, H. & the Cooperative Multicentre National Team. Multicentre Study of the Efficacy and Tolerability of Roxithromycin in the Treatment of Respiratory Tract Infections. Drug Invest 3 (Suppl 3), 38–46 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03258334
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03258334