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Appropriate prescribing of azithromycin for c ommunity‐acquired pneumonia
Author(s) -
Qian Sue,
Siu Johnny,
Hussein Abbas,
Zheng Yizhong
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/imj.15810
Subject(s) - azithromycin , medicine , pneumonia , community acquired pneumonia , qt interval , intensive care medicine , antimicrobial , antibiotics , chemistry , organic chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Azithromycin is prescribed for atypical antimicrobial cover in severe community‐acquired pneumonia. Inappropriate azithromycin administration incurs unnecessary financial costs, exacerbates antimicrobial resistance and risks QTc interval prolongation leading to cardiac arrhythmias. The present study demonstrated that a majority of patients were prescribed azithromycin without having electrocardiograms to assess the QTc interval and without meeting criteria for severe community‐acquired pneumonia based on CURB‐65 score.