Taking clarithromycin, a popular macrolide antibiotic that works against virtually all bacteria that cause community-acquired respiratory infections, increases the risk of cardiac death by 76%. compared to the use of penicillin V or roxithromycin. Are 76 percent that’s a lot in this case?
Researchers at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen analyzed data on more than 5 million weekly antibiotic therapy cycles used in Danes aged 40-47 years between 1997 and 2011. Patients treated with one of the three commonly used antibiotics: clarithromycin, roxithromycin and phenoxymethylpenicillin were analyzed. (penicillin V).
There were 285 cardiac deaths in total in the study population. Compared to penicillin V and roxithromycin, which had a cardiac death rate of 2,5 per 1000 person-years, clarithromycin was associated with a significantly increased risk – 5,3 deaths per 1000 people in one year. The relationship was especially marked in women. The risk disappeared after the end of the therapy.
However, the absolute increase in risk was not great – the difference was 37 cardiac deaths per million cycles of clarithromycin. A weakness of the Danish study was also that it did not take into account data on smoking or obesity.
Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that clarithromycin is one of the most widely used antibiotics in many countries. Therefore, the overall number of additional cardiac deaths may not be negligible.
Based on: BMJ / ABC News / KopalniaWiedzy
Text: Tomasz Kobosz