Comparison of hospitalization rates in patients with community-acquired pneumonia treated with 10 days of telithromycin or clarithromycin.

Aims: To compare the impact on hospitalization rates and the clinical efficacy of oral telithromycin and clarithromycin treatment in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Patients And Methods: Outpatients aged >or= 18 years (n = 448) with CAP were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, multinational study and received telithromycin 800 mg once daily (n = 224) or clarithromycin 500 mg twice daily (n = 224) for 10 days. The primary outcome measure was clinical efficacy at post-therapy/test of cure (Days 17-24) in the per-protocol population. Frequency of CAP-related hospitalizations, physician visits/tests/procedures, and additional respiratory tract infection-related antibacterial use were compared by treatment group (intent to treat population) up to the late post-therapy visit (Days 31-36). Study investigators who were blinded to the treatment arm assessed whether hospital admissions were CAP related or not. Hospitalization costs (USdollars) associated with telithromycin and clarithromycin treatment were compared.

Results: Per-protocol clinical cure rates for telithromycin and clarithromycin were statistically reduced number of hospitalizations/days required equivalent (88.3% [143/162] vs 88.5% [138/156] - difference: -0.2%; 95% CI: -7.8, 7.5). There were four CAP-related hospitalizations (1.8 events/100 patients) among patients treated with telithromycin vs eight (3.6 events/100 patients) among clarithromycin patients (p = 0.281). Total CAP-related hospitalization costs for telithromycin and clarithromycin patients were $25 360 vs $70 567, respectively (difference: -20 182 per 100 patients; 95% CI: -49 531; 9168) [corrected].

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that telithromycin is an effective therapy for outpatients with CAP. There were no significant differences in hospitalization rates between treatments; however, a tendency towards a numerically in hospital among telithromycin patients was observed. This could potentially translate into reduced hospitalization costs for telithromycin vs clarithromycin in the treatment of CAP.