Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23357769›Full record

Trial reportAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy2013

Blood, tissue, and intracellular concentrations of azithromycin during and after end of therapy.

P Matzneller, S Krasniqi, M Kinzig, F Sörgel, S Hüttner, E Lackner, M Müller, M Zeitlinger

Open access · bronzeAbstract readClinical Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
68citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
6.4field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

68 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 125 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
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  4. Pooled it
  5. Antibiotics for community-acquired pneumonia in adult outpatients.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014
    Pooled it
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
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  10. Trial
  11. Prevalence of nasopharyngealThe Lancet. Microbe · 2022
    Trial
  12. Trial
  13. Trial
  14. Impact of azithromycin on the clinical and antimicrobial effectiveness of tobramycin in the treatment of cystic fibrosis.Journal of cystic fibrosis : official journal of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society · 2017
    Trial
  15. Trial
  16. Trial
  17. Azithromycin administered for acute bronchiolitis may have a protective effect on subsequent wheezing.Jornal brasileiro de pneumologia : publicacao oficial da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisilogia
    Trial
  18. Review
  19. Antimicrobial Resistance inAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Review
  20. Review

8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

P MatznellerDepartment of Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
S Krasniqi
M Kinzig
F Sörgel
S Hüttner
E Lackner
M Müller
M Zeitlinger
Medical University of Vienna · ATInstitute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Although azithromycin is extensively used in the treatment of respiratory tract infections as well as skin and skin-related infections, pharmacokinetics of azithromycin in extracellular space fluid of soft tissues, i.e., one of its therapeutic target sites, are not yet fully elucidated. In this study, azithromycin concentration-time profiles in extracellular space of muscle and subcutaneous adipose tissue, but also in plasma and white blood cells, were determined at days 1 and 3 of treatment as well as 2 and 7 days after the end of treatment. Of all compartments, azithromycin concentrations were highest in white blood cells, attesting for intracellular accumulation. However, azithromycin concentrations in both soft tissues were markedly lower than in plasma both during and after treatment. Calculation of the area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h (AUC(0-24))/MIC(90) ratios for selected pathogens suggests that azithromycin concentrations measured in the present study are subinhibitory at all time points in both soft tissues and at the large majority of observed time points in plasma. Hence, it might be speculated that azithromycin's clinical efficacy relies not only on elevated intracellular concentrations but possibly also on its known pleotropic effects, including immunomodulation and influence on bacterial virulence factors. However, prolonged subinhibitory azithromycin concentrations at the target site, as observed in the present study, might favor the emergence of bacterial resistance and should therefore be considered with concern. In conclusion, this study has added important information to the pharmacokinetic profile of the widely used antibiotic drug azithromycin and evidentiates the need for further research on its potential for induction of bacterial resistance.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAnti-Bacterial AgentsAzithromycinHumansMaleMiddle AgedYoung AdultAnti-Bacterial AgentsAzithromycin

Identifiers

PMID23357769
PMCPMC3623349
OpenAlexW2100695003

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.