Effects of azithromycin in severe eosinophilic asthma with concomitant monoclonal antibody treatment.
retrospective_cohort · Level III
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39694544.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1136/thorax-2024-221977 and PMC identifier 11877106.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Macrolides reduce exacerbations when added to inhaled therapy in severe asthma. However, there is little published evidence for effectiveness in patients treated with biologics. We conducted a retrospective audit of all patients who started azithromycin while on biologics in our centre. Compared with those that did not start azithromycin, these individuals had more exacerbations and a phenotype of chronic bronchitis and/or frequent purulent exacerbations. The addition of azithromycin to biologics was associated with reduced annual rates of steroid-treated and antibiotic-treated exacerbations and improved symptom scores (Asthma Control Questionnaire-5) but not with any improvement in lung function. Data support testing azithromycin in clinical trials in patients on biologics with residual exacerbations.
Medical subject headings
- Azithromycin
- Asthma
- Anti-Bacterial Agents
- Pulmonary Eosinophilia
- Antibodies, Monoclonal