Trial reportRespiratory research2013
Azithromycin and cough-specific health status in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic cough: a randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in Respiratory research, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01071161 (Phase III), which is not on this map. Cited by 25 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Phase III (c) The Effect of Azithromycin in Patients With COPD and Chronic Productive Cough
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 65 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Prophylactic antibiotics for adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a network meta-analysis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Adverse events in people taking macrolide antibiotics versus placebo for any indication.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of long-term macrolide therapy at low doses in stable COPD.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2019Pooled it
- Prophylactic antibiotic therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Prophylactic use of macrolide antibiotics for the prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation: a meta-analysis.PloS one · 2015Pooled it
- Long-term macrolide treatment for the prevention of acute exacerbations in COPD: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseasePooled it
- Long-Term Macrolides in Chronic Respiratory Diseases: Dusk or a New Dawn? A Narrative Review.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Updates on the Prevalence, Quality of Life, and Management of Chronic Cough in Interstitial Lung Diseases.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Efficacy of Prophylactic Antibiotics in COPD: A Systematic Review.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Cough in chronic lung disease: a state of the art review.Journal of thoracic disease · 2023Review
- The Effectiveness and Safety of Long-Term Macrolide Therapy for COPD in Stable Status: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Impact of prophylactic and 'rescue pack' antibiotics on the airway microbiome in chronic lung disease.BMJ open respiratory research · 2023Observational
- Sputum-Rheology-Based Strategy for Guiding Azithromycin Prescription in COPD Patients with Frequent Exacerbations: A Randomized, Controlled Study ("COPD CARhE").Biomedicines · 2023Article
- Trials and Treatments: An Update on Pharmacotherapy for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Chronic cough: new insights and future prospects.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2021Review
- Azithromycin for sarcoidosis cough: an open-label exploratory clinical trial.ERJ open research · 2020Article
- ERS guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of chronic cough in adults and children.The European respiratory journal · 2020Article
- Protective effect of autophagy on endoplasmic reticulum stress induced apoptosis of alveolar epithelial cells in rat models of COPD.Bioscience reports · 2017Article
- Acute exacerbation of COPD.Respirology (Carlton, Vic.) · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMacrolides reduce exacerbations in patients with COPD. Their effects on health status has not been assessed as primary outcome and is less clear. This study assessed the effects of prophylactic azithromycin on cough-specific health status in COPD-patients with chronic productive cough.
methodsIn this randomised controlled trial 84 patients met the eligibility criteria: age of ≥40 years, COPD GOLD stage ≥2 and chronic productive cough. The intervention-group (n = 42) received azithromycin 250 mg 3 times a week and the control-group (n = 42) received a placebo. Primary outcome was cough-specific health status at 12 weeks, measured with the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ). Secondary outcomes included generic and COPD-specific health status and exacerbations. Changes in adverse events and microbiology were monitored.
resultsMean age of participants was 68 ± 10 years and mean FEV1 was 1.36 ± 0.47 L. The improvement in LCQ total score at 12 weeks was significantly greater with azithromycin (difference 1.3 ± 0.5, 95% CI 0.3;2.3, p = 0.01) and met the minimal clinically important difference. Similar results were found for the domain scores, and COPD-specific and generic health status questionnaires. Other secondary endpoints were non-significant. No imbalances in adverse events were found.
conclusionsProphylactic azithromycin improved cough-specific health status in COPD-patients with chronic productive cough to a clinically relevant degree.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01071161.
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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.