Tommaso Bucci, Dennis Wat, Sarah Sibley, Dan Wootton, David Green, Pasquale Pignatelli, Gregory Y H Lip, Freddy Frost
{"title":"Low-dose azithromycin prophylaxis in patients with atrial fibrillation and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.","authors":"Tommaso Bucci, Dennis Wat, Sarah Sibley, Dan Wootton, David Green, Pasquale Pignatelli, Gregory Y H Lip, Freddy Frost","doi":"10.1007/s11739-024-03653-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Low-dose azithromycin prophylaxis is associated with improved outcomes in people suffering frequent exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the use of macrolides in patients with cardiovascular disease has been debated. To investigate the risk of adverse events after COPD exacerbations in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with azithromycin prophylaxis. Retrospective cohort study within the TriNetX Platform, including AF patients with COPD exacerbations. Risks of primary and secondary outcomes were recorded up to 30 days post-COPD exacerbations and compared between azithromycin users and azithromycin non-users. The primary outcomes were the risks for a composite of (1) cardiovascular (all-cause death, heart failure, ventricular arrhythmias, ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and cardiac arrest), and (2) hemorrhagic events (intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), and gastro-intestinal bleeding). Cox-regression analyses compared outcomes between groups after propensity score matching (PSM). After PSM, azithromycin users (n = 2434, 71 ± 10 years, 49% females) were associated with a lower 30-day risk of post-exacerbation cardiovascular (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.61-0.73) and hemorrhagic composite outcome (HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.32-0.64) compared to azithromycin non-users (n = 2434, 72 ± 11 years, 51% females). The beneficial effect was consistent for each secondary outcomes, except ICH. On sensitivity analyses, the reduced risk of adverse events in azithromycin users was irrespective of smoking status, exacerbation severity, and type of oral anticoagulation. Azithromycin prophylaxis is associated with a lower risk of all-cause death, thrombotic and hemorrhagic events in AF patients with COPD. The possible role of azithromycin prophylaxis as part of the integrated care management of AF patients with COPD needs further study.</p>","PeriodicalId":13662,"journal":{"name":"Internal and Emergency Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11405424/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Internal and Emergency Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-024-03653-0","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/5/31 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Low-dose azithromycin prophylaxis is associated with improved outcomes in people suffering frequent exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the use of macrolides in patients with cardiovascular disease has been debated. To investigate the risk of adverse events after COPD exacerbations in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with azithromycin prophylaxis. Retrospective cohort study within the TriNetX Platform, including AF patients with COPD exacerbations. Risks of primary and secondary outcomes were recorded up to 30 days post-COPD exacerbations and compared between azithromycin users and azithromycin non-users. The primary outcomes were the risks for a composite of (1) cardiovascular (all-cause death, heart failure, ventricular arrhythmias, ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and cardiac arrest), and (2) hemorrhagic events (intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), and gastro-intestinal bleeding). Cox-regression analyses compared outcomes between groups after propensity score matching (PSM). After PSM, azithromycin users (n = 2434, 71 ± 10 years, 49% females) were associated with a lower 30-day risk of post-exacerbation cardiovascular (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.61-0.73) and hemorrhagic composite outcome (HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.32-0.64) compared to azithromycin non-users (n = 2434, 72 ± 11 years, 51% females). The beneficial effect was consistent for each secondary outcomes, except ICH. On sensitivity analyses, the reduced risk of adverse events in azithromycin users was irrespective of smoking status, exacerbation severity, and type of oral anticoagulation. Azithromycin prophylaxis is associated with a lower risk of all-cause death, thrombotic and hemorrhagic events in AF patients with COPD. The possible role of azithromycin prophylaxis as part of the integrated care management of AF patients with COPD needs further study.
期刊介绍:
Internal and Emergency Medicine (IEM) is an independent, international, English-language, peer-reviewed journal designed for internists and emergency physicians. IEM publishes a variety of manuscript types including Original investigations, Review articles, Letters to the Editor, Editorials and Commentaries. Occasionally IEM accepts unsolicited Reviews, Commentaries or Editorials. The journal is divided into three sections, i.e., Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine and Clinical Evidence and Health Technology Assessment, with three separate editorial boards. In the Internal Medicine section, invited Case records and Physical examinations, devoted to underlining the role of a clinical approach in selected clinical cases, are also published. The Emergency Medicine section will include a Morbidity and Mortality Report and an Airway Forum concerning the management of difficult airway problems. As far as Critical Care is becoming an integral part of Emergency Medicine, a new sub-section will report the literature that concerns the interface not only for the care of the critical patient in the Emergency Department, but also in the Intensive Care Unit. Finally, in the Clinical Evidence and Health Technology Assessment section brief discussions of topics of evidence-based medicine (Cochrane’s corner) and Research updates are published. IEM encourages letters of rebuttal and criticism of published articles. Topics of interest include all subjects that relate to the science and practice of Internal and Emergency Medicine.