Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Used extensively for the treatment of pediatric infectious diseases and became one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in children [2,3,4,5,6]. During the last 20 years, azithromycin mass drug administration (MDA) has been used to control trachoma with over 700 million doses of azithromycin being prescribed to children in areas of active trachoma programs [7]. Recent large trials have suggested that periodical azithromycin MDA may reduce post-neonatal infant and child mortality [8]. However, the long-term rationale for mass antibiotic distribution for trachoma is still the subject of debate with concerns of potential toxicity with azithromycin in pediatrics [9, 10].A systematic review that evaluated the tolerance or toxicity of azithromycin in children with asthma found that gastrointestinal adverse reactions such as nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain were the main adverse events [11]. Another systematic review of azithromycin use in neonates highlighted the risk of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) [12]. This systematic review aims to evaluate the toxicity of azithromycin both as MDA or non-MDA in neonates, infants, and children from birth to 18 years old. This systematic review was proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), as one of the systematic reviews in support of developing a guideline of azithromycin use in pediatrics to help national and international policymakers in determining the role of prophylactic azithromycin in reducing child mortality [10].MethodsThis systematic review conformed to the PRISMA statement and was registered on PROSPERO (CRD 42018112629) [13]. We have reported the methods of literature search, risk of bias assessment, data abstraction,
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