Acute otitis media: there were 18 studies (19 comparisons) involving 3,421 patients (n in meta-analysis = 3,458).
Acute sinusitis: there were 10 studies (11 comparisons) involving 1,742 patients.
Acute pharyngitis: there were 14 studies (16 comparisons) involving 2,447 (n in meta-analysis = 2,603).
For the three types of infections, the quality of the studies was similar with one double-blind and one single blind study and the remainder unblinded or unknown. For clinical failure rates, there was no statistically-significant heterogeneity between the studies and the pooled estimates showed no difference between azithromycin and its comparators.
Acute otitis media: the random-effects OR was 1.12 (95% CI: 0.81, 1.54).
Acute sinusitis: the random-effects OR was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.60, 1.39). Acute pharyngitis: the random-effects OR was 1.07 (95% CI: 0.59, 1.94).
Fixed-effect ORs, risk ratios and risk differences were also reported in the review. Subgroup analyses according to the comparator drug were also conducted and reported.
Adverse events: data on discontinuations due to adverse events were available from 33 trials. The overall discontinuation rate from azithromycin was 0.8%, compared with 0.6% for penicillin or amoxycillin, 1% for clarithromycin, 1.3% for cefaclor, 1.9% for erythromycin, and 2.3% for co-amoxiclav.