Azithromycin is an important antibiotic used by Pulmonologists, ENT specialists, General Practitioners and other doctors.
Azithromycin has had a recent label change which warrants this writing.
The revised label advises against the use of azithromycin in patients with known risk for QT interval prolongation, hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, bradycardia.
This label revision is because of post marketing surveillance findings, an observational study involving Tennessee Medicaid Patients and also Danish national healthcare data.
Excerpts"
Azithromycin has had a recent label change which warrants this writing.
The revised label advises against the use of azithromycin in patients with known risk for QT interval prolongation, hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, bradycardia.
This label revision is because of post marketing surveillance findings, an observational study involving Tennessee Medicaid Patients and also Danish national healthcare data.
Excerpts"
“For every 21,000 outpatient prescriptions
written for azithromycin, one cardiovascular death occurred in excess of those
observed with the same number of amoxicillin prescriptions. The excess risk
over amoxicillin varied considerably according to cardiovascular risk factors;
the researchers estimated that there was one excess cardiovascular death per
4100 prescriptions among patients at high cardiovascular risk but less than one
per 100,000 among patients with lower cardiovascular risk.”
“The risks and benefits of antibacterial
therapy should be considered in prescribing decisions. Pharmacologic and
epidemiologic data point to lethal arrhythmias as a potential consequence of
QT-interval prolongation with use of azithromycin, other macrolides, and
fluoroquinolones. This possibility should give clinicians pause when they're
considering prescribing antibacterial drugs, especially for patients with
preexisting cardiovascular risk factors or clinical conditions in which
antibacterial drug therapy has limited benefits.”
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