Table 1.

Clinical success rates in studies evaluating azithromycin against comparators in the treatment of lower respiratory tract infections

First author, year	Setting	Azithromycin dosing scheme	Comparator/s dosing scheme	No. of treated patients	Clinical success rate
Bohte 1995	CAP	500 mg once daily, 3 days	Benzylpenicillin i.v.	35 azitromycin vs	Azithromycin 83% vs
			Erythromycin	29 benzylpenicillin	Benzylpenicillin 66%
				19 azithromycin vs	Azithromycin 79% vs
				21 erythromycin	Erythromycin 76%
O’Doherty 1998	CAP	500 mg once daily, 3 days	Clarithromycin 250 mg twice daily, 10 days	101 azithromycin	Azithromycin 94%
				102 clarithromycin	Clarithromycin 95%
Bradbury 1993	LRTI	500 mg once daily, 3 days	Clarithromycin 250 mg twice daily, 10 days	252 azithromycin	Azithromycin 94%
				258 clarithromycin	Clarithromycin 97%
Hoepelman 1997	LRTI	500 mg once daily, 3 days	Amoxi/clav acid 625 mg 3 times daily, 10 days	62 azithromycin	Azithromycin 95%
				61 amoxi/clav acid	Amoxi/clav 90%
DeAbate 2000	AECB	500 mg day 1, 250 mg days 2–5	Moxifloxacin 400 mg once daily, 5 days	243 azithromycin	Azithromycin 92%
				221 moxifloxacin	Moxifloxacin 90%
Amsden 2003	AECB	500 mg day 1, 250 mg days 2–5	Levofloxacin 500 mg once daily, 7 days	118 azithromycin	Azithromycin 89%
				117 levofloxacin	Levofloxacin 92%
Castaldo 2003	AECB	500 mg day 1, 250 mg days 2–5	Dirithromycin 500 mg once daily, 5 days	46 azithromycin	Azithromycin 86.5%
				40 dirithromycin	Dirithromycin 95.5%

Abbreviations: CAP, community-acquired pneumonia; LRTI, lower respiratory tract infections; AECB, acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis; Amoxi/clav, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid.