Evidence Hub

Effect of Levofloxacin Prophylaxis on Bacteremia in Children With Acute Leukemia or Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Sarah W. Alexander, Brian T. Fisher, Aditya H. Gaur, Christopher C. Dvorak, Doojduen Villa Luna, Ha Dang, Lu Chen, Michael Green et al.

JAMA, 2018

624 participants · 206 citations

Abstract

Importance: Bacteremia causes considerable morbidity among children with acute leukemia and those undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). There are limited data on the effect of antibiotic prophylaxis in children. Objective: To determine the efficacy and risks of levofloxacin prophylaxis in children receiving intensive chemotherapy for acute leukemia or undergoing HSCT. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this multicenter, open-label, randomized trial, patients (6 months-21 years) receiving intensive chemotherapy were enrolled (September 2011-April 2016) in 2 separate groups-acute leukemia, consisting of acute myeloid leukemia or relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and HSCT recipients-at 76 centers in the United States and Canada, with follow-up completed September 2017. Interventions: Patients with acute leukemia were randomized to receive levofloxacin prophylaxis for 2 consecutive cycles of chemotherapy (n = 100) or no prophylaxis (n = 100). Those undergoing HSCT were randomized to receive levofloxacin prophylaxis during 1 HSCT procedure (n = 210) or no prophylaxis (n = 214). Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the occurrence of bacteremia during 2 chemotherapy cycles (acute leukemia) or 1 transplant procedure (HSCT). Secondary outcomes included fever and neutropenia, severe infection, invasive fungal disease, Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea, and musculoskeletal toxic effects. Results: A total of 624 patients, 200 with…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 624 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free