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

Objective: To compare the outcome of patients with recurrent acute otitis m edia (AOM) treated either with amoxicillin or with azithromycin. Methods: T his prospective, controlled. and randomized study. compares the outcome of 71 patients with recurrent AOM treated with azithromycin (31 patients) or a moxicillin (40 patients) fur the prevention of AOM. azithromycin was given at a dose of 10 mg/kg once a week, whereas amoxicillin was administered dai ly 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 homogen eous with regard to the currently accepted predisposing factors of recurren t 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 i n the azithromycin group had a clinical response to prophylaxis (80.6%) com parable to those treated with amoxicillin (89.5%) (P = 0.300). The incidenc e of adverse effects was similar in both groups. Conclusion: According to t hese results, a prophylaxis with azithromycin is as useful as amoxicillin t o prevent recurrent AOM. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.