ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2022
Azithromycin Versus Beta-lactams in Hospitalized Patients with Acute Exacerbations of COPD.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Piperacillin/tazobactam plus erythromycin improves clinical outcomes in AECOPD with bacterial lower respiratory tract infections: a retrospective cohort study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Mechanisms, Efficacy, Safety, and Pharmacoeconomics of Low-Dose, Long-Term Macrolide Antibiotics in the Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Review.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2026Review
- In-hospital antibiotic use for severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations: a retrospective observational study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2023Observational
- Therapeutic Approaches for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Exacerbations.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Azithromycin use prior to ICU admission is associated with a lower short-term mortality for critically ill acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: A retrospective cohort study.Chronic respiratory diseaseArticle
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
backgroundThere is a lack of data comparing azithromycin to alternative antibiotic choices in managing COPD exacerbations, making appropriate antibiotic selection controversial.
objectiveTo compare treatment failure in hospitalized patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) receiving azithromycin or beta-lactams.
designRetrospective, multicenter cohort study using logistic regression for multivariable analysis. Patients were included if they were at least 18 years old, admitted with AECOPD, and received at least two consecutive days of either a beta-lactam or azithromycin. Patients were excluded if they received concomitant azithromycin and beta-lactam antibiotics during the first 2 days, had a history of other severe underlying pulmonary diseases, pregnancy, COVID-19, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, or received a corticosteroid for a diagnosis other than COPD.
participantsFive hundred ninety-five patients were included, of which 428 (72%) received azithromycin and 167 patients (28%) received a beta-lactam. MAIN MEASURES: The primary endpoint was treatment failure rate in patients receiving azithromycin versus beta-lactams, which was a composite endpoint defined as in-hospital mortality, admission to intensive care, initiation of invasive mechanical ventilation, initiation of a new antibiotic, steroid therapy escalation, or readmission due to AECOPD within 30 days. KEY
resultsThe composite primary outcome occurred in 84 patients (19.6%) in the azithromycin group and 54 (32.3%) in the beta-lactam group (p<0.01). The difference in the composite outcome was a result of higher rates of new antibiotics during admission (12.6% vs 4.2%; p<0.01) and higher readmission within 30 days (19.3% vs 12.4%; p=0.032). After controlling for potential confounders, beta-lactams continued to demonstrate a higher risk for treatment failure (OR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.46-3.63). There was no difference in adverse effects between the groups.
conclusionAzithromycin was associated with less treatment failure in AECOPD which was driven by lower readmission rates and prescription of new antimicrobials.
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