Comparison of amoxicillin and azithromycin in the prevention of recurrent acute otitis media

Objective: To compare the outcome of patients with recurrent acute otitis media (AOM) treated either with amoxicillin or with azithromycin. Methods: This prospective, controlled. and randomized study. compares the outcome of 71 patients with recurrent AOM treated with azithromycin (31 patients) or amoxicillin (40 patients) fur the prevention of AOM. azithromycin was given at a dose of 10 mg/kg once a week, whereas amoxicillin was administered daily as a single intake of one third of the therapeutic dosage (10 mg/kg per day). All treatments were prescribed for 3 months. Both groups were homogeneous with regard to the currently accepted predisposing factors of recurrent AOM. Mean age of children was 35.3 months. and average follow-up was 11.5 months. The treatment was considered effective when the number of episodes of AOM dropped to less than 50% after the prophylaxis. Results: Patients in the azithromycin group had a clinical response to prophylaxis (80.6%) comparable to those treated with amoxicillin (89.5%) (P = 0.300). The incidence of adverse effects was similar in both groups. Conclusion: According to these results, a prophylaxis with azithromycin is as useful as amoxicillin to prevent recurrent AOM. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.