Clinical evaluation of roxithromyin in acne vulgaris: comparison of daily versus alternate day regimen
Keywords:
Roxithromycin, acne vulgarisAbstract
Roxithromycin, one of the newer macrolides, has been shown to be effective in acne in someclinical trials. These trials have been done with once or twice daily dosage schedules. Asanother closely related macrolide, azithromycin, has been shown to be effective when usedon alternate days, we conducted this trial to see whether an alternate day regimen ofroxithromycin gives comparable results with those of daily regimen or not. One hundred andforty patients were included in the study and were randomly divided in two groups. Patientsin Group-I used 300 mg of roxithromycin orally once daily for eight weeks. Those in Group-II used 300 mg of roxithromycin orally on alternate days for eight weeks. Results could beevaluated in 125 patients, with 15 patients lost to follow up. Out of 60 patients in Group-I,32% showed good(>50%) improvement, 57% moderate (25-50%) and 10% slight (<25%)improvement. Of the 65 evaluable patients in Group-II, 28% showed good, 55% moderateand 14% slight improvement. Using chi-square tests the difference between the results of thetwo groups was found to be insignificant (p>0.5). Side effects noted were transient and werenausea, slight gastric upset and diarrhea in 10% patients in Group-I and 4.6% patients inGroup-II. In conclusion, alternate day dosage regimen is found to be almost equally effectivebut safer and more economical than daily dosage regimen.References
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