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Short-course Antimicrobial Therapy for Paediatric Respiratory Infections

Phase 4
Completed
Conditions
Community-acquired Pneumonia
Interventions
Drug: Placebo
Registration Number
NCT02380352
Lead Sponsor
Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation
Brief Summary

Randomized controlled double-blind non-inferiority clinical trial to determine whether five days of high-dose amoxicillin leads to comparable rates of early clinical cure compared with 10 days of high-dose amoxicillin for previously healthy children with mild community-acquired pneumonia.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
281
Inclusion Criteria

Children aged 6 months to 10 years presenting with CAP will be eligible. CAP will be defined if all of the four following numeric criteria are met:

  1. fever (>37.5 C axillary, > 37.7 C oral, or >38 C rectal) recorded in the ED or at home in the 48h prior to presentation;

  2. any one of:

    1. tachypnoea on exam (>60 bpm for age <1 y, >50 bpm for 1-2 y of age, >40 bpm for 2-4 y of age, and >30 bpm for >4 y of age);
    2. cough on exam or by history;
    3. increased work of breathing on exam; or
    4. auscultatory findings (focal crackles, bronchial breathing, etc.) consistent with pneumonia;
  3. infiltrates on chest radiograph consistent with bacterial CAP as judged by the ED physician; and

  4. the attending ED physician diagnoses the child with primary CAP. (Children treated with systemic steroids in the ED will be presumed to have primary asthma exacerbation with possible infection and therefore will not meet inclusion criteria.)

Participants must be well enough to be treated as outpatients (discharged home by the ED physician, adequate volume status, able to tolerate oral medication, oxygen saturation > 90%, no evidence of impending respiratory failure), and have no evidence of empyaema or necrotizing pneumonia on chest radiograph.

Exclusion Criteria

Children will be excluded if they have any of the following: cystic fibrosis, anatomic lung disease, bronchiectasis, congenital heart disease, history of repeated aspiration or velopharyngeal incompetence, malignancy, conditions requiring treatment with immune suppressants, primary immunodeficiency, advanced HIV infection, prolonged admissions (>48 h) to hospital within the past 2 months, pneumonia previously diagnosed within the past month, lung abscess diagnosed within the past six months, receipt of > 24 hours of beta-lactam antibiotic therapy already received at presentation to the ED, receipt of at least a 5 day course of amoxicillin < 72h prior to presenting to the ED, receipt of an intravenous cephalosporin or azithromycin in the ED, or suspected allergy to penicillin. Children will not be eligible to participate more than once.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Short-courseAmoxicillin5 days amoxicillin 90 mg/kg/day divided TID followed by 5 days placebo TID
StandardAmoxicillin5 days amoxicillin 90 mg/kg/day divided TID followed by alternate formulation 5 days amoxicillin 90 mg/kg/day divided TID
Short-coursePlacebo5 days amoxicillin 90 mg/kg/day divided TID followed by 5 days placebo TID
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Early clinical cure (Resolution of tachypnoea, increased work of breathing, and fever)at 14-21 days post-enrolment

Resolution of tachypnoea, increased work of breathing, and fever

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Days of missed/disrupted work for caregiver(s)up to 14 days post-enrolment
Days of adverse reactionsup to 14 days post-enrolment
Days of missed schoolup to 14 days post-enrolment
Adherence to study medicationsup to 10 days post-enrolment

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario

🇨🇦

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

McMaster Children's Hospital

🇨🇦

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

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