Treatment of adults with community-acquired respiratory tract infections: results of a multicentric clinical trial with gatifloxacin.

Respiratory tract infections have an important clinical and economic impact and they are the most common indication for antibiotic use in outpatient practice. This prospective, multicenter non-controlled trial assessed the efficacy and safety of gatifloxacin in the treatment of community-acquired respiratory tract infections. Patients were treated with a daily oral dose of gatifloxacin 400 mg for 7-14 days. The diagnosis of respiratory infection was made based on the clinical condition and/or radiologic findings. A total of 5,044 adult patients with community-acquired respiratory infections was treated with gatifloxacin in different centers in Brazil between March 1, 2001, and October 31, 2001. Among the 5,044 patients treated, 1,501 patients (29.76%) had community-acquired pneumonia, 756 (14.99%) had acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis and 2,787 (55.25%) had acute sinusitis. Of the total of patients treated, 3,607 (71.51%) were considered cured, 1,261 (25%) progressed with some clinical improvement, 28 (0.56%) presented a relapse, 56 (1.11%) failed to treatment and 92 (1.82%) were unable to be evaluated. Adverse events were described in 634 (12.57%) patients. The most common adverse events were: nausea (2.24%); dyspepsia (1.86%); diarrhea (0.79%); change in taste (0.46%); insomnia and irritability (0.22%); dizziness (0.77%); headache (0.42%); allergic reaction (0.18%); Central Nervous System alterations insomnia, agitation, anxiety (0.46%). This study showed that the treatment of respiratory tract infections with gatifloxacin was safe and efficient and had a low incidence of adverse events.