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Impact of fluoroquinolone treatment on delay of tuberculosis diagnosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Catherine Anne Hogan, Lekha Puri, Genevieve C. Gore, Madhukar Pai

Journal of Clinical Tuberculosis and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, 2016

24 citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: , there is concern that their use can delay the diagnosis of tuberculosis. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess whether empiric treatment with fluoroquinolones delays the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in patients with respiratory tract infections. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective was to assess the delay in days in the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, among patients who received quinolones, compared to those who received non-fluoroquinolone antibiotics. METHODS: We included studies of adult patients treated with fluoroquinolones prior to a confirmed diagnosis of tuberculosis. We performed a literature search of 7 databases (including PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library) with no language restrictions. We calculated an unweighted mean of estimate of difference in delay across all studies. For the studies for which the estimate was available as a mean with standard deviation, a weighted average using a random effects meta-analysis model was estimated. RESULTS: A total of 3983 citations were identified from the literature search; of these, 17 articles were selected for full-text review. A total of 10 studies were retained for the synthesis. These included 7 retrospective cohort studies and 3 case-control studies. Only one of these studies was from a high TB burden country, South Africa. The most commonly used fluoroquinolones were levofloxacin, gemifloxacin and moxifloxacin. The unweighted average of difference in delay…

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