Findings based on randomized trial and meta-analysis combining data with three previous trials in children with acute infective conjunctivitis<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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TUESDAY, Oct. 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) — For children with acute infective conjunctivitis, topical antibiotics are associated with a shorter duration of conjunctival symptoms, according to a study published online Oct. 4 in JAMA Network Open<\/em>.<\/p>\n Minna Honkila, M.D., Ph.D., from Oulu University Hospital in Finland, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial in primary health care in Finland involving children with acute infective conjunctivitis to examine the efficacy of topical antibiotic therapy. Eighty-eight children were enrolled and were randomly assigned to moxifloxacin eye drops, placebo eye drops, or no intervention (30, 27, and 31 children, respectively). In addition, a meta-analysis was conducted that included the current trial and three previous randomized clinical trials with a total of 584 children (300 randomly assigned to topical antibiotics and 284 to placebo).<\/p>\n The researchers found that compared with the no-intervention group, the moxifloxacin group had a significantly shorter time to clinical cure (3.8 versus 5.7 days); relative to no intervention, both moxifloxacin and placebo eye drops significantly shortened the time to clinical cure in the survival analysis. In the meta-analysis, there was a reduction observed in the proportion of children with conjunctivitis symptoms on days 3 to 6 associated with use of topical antibiotics compared with placebo (odds ratio, 0.59).<\/p>\n “The present study, which was designed to address current inconsistencies, found that topical antibiotics were effective when used to treat acute infectious conjunctivitis in children,” the authors write.<\/p>\n