Trial finds no benefit for azithromycin in preschool wheeze
The US study was stopped early after interim analysis found no clinical benefit among the group receiving the antibiotic.
Azithromycin does not improve outcomes for preschool children with moderate to severe wheeze, new research suggests.
This finding extended to a subgroup of children in the study who tested positive for pathogenic bacteria on nasopharyngeal swab.
The US multi-centre trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, randomly assigned 840 children aged 18 months to five years presenting to eight EDs to receive azithromycin or placebo orally for five days.
The primary outcome was the sum of carer scores for wheeze-related symptoms across five days on a validated US-based measure.
