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Optimizing Care for Children Hospitalized With Community-acquired Pneumonia: Short-course Therapy

Phase 4
Recruiting
Conditions
Community-acquired Pneumonia
Interventions
Drug: Placebo
Registration Number
NCT06125340
Lead Sponsor
Jeffrey
Brief Summary

Children are commonly hospitalized because of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). There are multiple high-quality randomized trials of short-course antibiotic therapy (3-5 days of treatment) for adults hospitalized with CAP - but there is very little evidence in children. We intend to do a pilot RCT of short-course (3-5 days) vs standard-duration (8-10 days) antibiotic therapy for children hospitalized for CAP.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
75
Inclusion Criteria
    • children with a history of fever who are hospitalized with CAP (ie. 'severe CAP') as per the clinical team and who have abnormal chest imaging (eg. radiograph, ultrasound) will be eligible. They must also have at least one of the following:
    1. documented tachypnoea (>60 bpm for age <1 y, >50 bpm for 1-2 y, >40 bpm for 2-4 y, and >30 bpm for >4 y);
    2. cough on exam or by history;
    3. increased work of breathing on exam; or
    4. auscultatory findings (eg. focal crackles, bronchial breathing) consistent with CAP.
Exclusion Criteria
  • Children will be excluded if: antibiotics have been discontinued; they received >3 days of effective antibiotic treatment (excluding macrolide treatment) prior to hospitalization; there is supplemental oxygen use or fever within the past 24 h; more than 5 days elapsed since admission; the attending clinical team does not wish to use oral amoxicillin for treatment (because of allergy or any other reason); or the child is taking coumadin-based anticoagulants or tetracycline-type antibiotics (because of potential interactions with amoxicillin). Children will also be excluded if they have any of the following: chronic lung disease, congenital heart disease (requiring treatment or with exercise restrictions), malignancy, immunodeficiency (primary, acquired, or iatrogenic), a separate episode of pneumonia previously diagnosed within the past 2 weeks, or lung abscess diagnosed within the past six months. Children will not be eligible to participate more than once.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Short-course treatmentPlacebo5 days of placebo (after participants already received 3-5 days of antibiotics)
Standard-duration treatmentAmoxicillin5 days of amoxicillin (after participants already received 3-5 days of antibiotics)
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Consent successDay 0

The proportion of potentially eligible participants who consent

Losses to followupbefore Day 30

The proportion of participants lost to follow-up

Open-label antibiotic usebefore Day 30

The proportion of participants who receive open-label (non-study) antibiotics

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Proportion of participants with late clinical responseDay 15

LCR is defined as:

i) clinical improvement in fever, work of breathing, oral intake, and activity level, AND ii) lack of receipt of additional antimicrobials

Proportion of participants with repeat hospitalization for CAPbefore Day 30
Proportion of participants with drug-related AEs (any severity)before Day 30
Proportion of participants with unscheduled ED or urgent care visitsbefore Day 30
Proportion of participants with serious drug AEsbefore Day 30
Proportion of participants with unscheduled primary care visitsbefore Day 30
Proportion of participants who develop complicated pneumoniabefore Day 30

Complicated defined by effusion, empyaema, necrotizing pneumonia

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

McMaster Children's Hospital

🇨🇦

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

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