26 Dec Which Antibiotics Have Increased Risk of Cardiac Arrhythmias?

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jiun-Ling Wang MD
Associated professor at Medical school in I-Shou University
infectious disease doctor at E-DA Hospital, Kaohsiung , Taiwan

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Dr. Wang: Some study showed increase cardiovascular death in azithromycin user. But there lacks of data in other antibiotics in the treatment for respiratory tract infections.

So we used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database to perform a nationwide, population-based study comparing the risks of ventricular arrhythmia and cardiovascular death among patients using these antibiotics. And we find azithromycin, and moxifloxacin were associated with higher risk of ventricular arrhythmia cardiovascular death than amoxicillin/clavunate.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Wang: The absolute cardiovascular risk in these antibiotics use is low. But clinicians/patients should know the small but significant increased risk esp. when patients had baseline higher risk such as underlying cardiovascular disease

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Wang: Because the study result is based on a population-based drug database, but not a RCT, further study is needed to determine whether the increased risk of cardiovascular death is caused by the drugs or related to the severity of infection or the pathogens themselves.

Citation:

Risks of Cardiac Arrhythmia and Mortality Among Patients Using New-Generation Macrolides, Fluoroquinolones, and β-Lactam/β-Lactamase Inhibitors: A Taiwanese Nationwide Study.

Last Updated on January 17, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD