Purpose: To estimate the effectiveness of moxifloxacin instillation in the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis.
Patients and methods: Five randomized clinical trials on moxifloxacin were identified, three versus placebo, one versus ofloxacin, and another versus levofloxacin. The effectiveness parameters included clinical efficacy and drop-out rates for all reasons including lack of efficacy. The fixed and random effects were estimated on intent-to-treat populations. Models for risk ratios and risk differences as well as tests for study homogeneity were computed.
Results: Patients treated with moxifloxacin dropped out less frequently (OR=2.22 [1.62-3.03]; p<0.001), had less treatment failure (OR=3.61 [2.30-5.65]; p<0.001), and experienced clinical cure more often (OR=1.59 [1.21-2.04]; p=0.001) than placebo-treated patients. In comparison to ofloxacin, patients treated with moxifloxacin had fewer drop-outs for reasons other than treatment failure (OR=1.92 [1.28-2.89]; p=0.02) and fewer drop-outs for treatment failure (OR=2.53 [1.41-4.56]; p=0.002).
Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrated the clinical efficacy of moxifloxacin compared to placebo. Fewer patients dropped out from moxifloxacin treatment compared to ofloxacin.
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