Evidence Hub

Optimal dosing and duration of linezolid for the treatment of multidrug-resistant and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis: an individual patient data meta-analysis

Nakwon Kwak, Joong‐Yub Kim, Areum Han, Catherine Berry, Maria Beumont, Tweed Conor, Angela M. Crook, Keertan Dheda et al.

European Respiratory Journal, 2025

945 participants · 9 citations

Abstract

Background The optimal dosing strategy of linezolid for treating multidrug-resistant and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis remains unclear. We conducted an individual patient data meta-analysis to determine the optimal linezolid dosing strategy. Methods We searched for randomised controlled trials and prospective cohort studies on short-course all‑oral regimens containing linezolid for treating multidrug-resistant and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis in PubMed, Embase and Scopus up to 31 August 2023. Patients were grouped according to linezolid dosing patterns. Time to treatment success and adverse events of grade 3 and higher were analysed using the Fine–Gray sub-distribution hazard model. Results Of 12 eligible studies, eight (four randomised controlled trials, four prospective studies) were included. Overall, 945 patients were grouped as follows: group 1 (600 mg·day−1 linezolid for 8 weeks), group 2 (600 mg·day−1 for 16 weeks, then 300 mg·day−1 for 8 weeks), group 3 (600 mg·day−1 for 39 weeks) and group 4 (1200 mg·day−1 for 25 weeks). Proportions of patients achieving treatment success were 59.1%, 90.4%, 91.3% and 96.0%, respectively. Compared with group 2, group 1 (adjusted sub-distribution hazard ratio (SHR) 0.24, 95% CI 0.08–0.71) and group 3 (adjusted SHR 0.36, 95% CI 0.16–0.81) had lower success rates. While group 4 showed no significant difference in treatment success versus group 2 (adjusted SHR 0.57, 95% CI 0.23–1.43), it had a higher rate of adverse events of…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 945 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