Azithromycin versus Cephalexin for Simple Traumatic Wounds in the Emergency Department: A Randomised Trial
<p><strong>Objective:</strong> The aim of this study was to investigate efficacy of azithromycin versus cephalexin for infection prophylaxisis in patients with simple traumatic wounds managed at emergency department.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> This randomized controlled trial compared short-course therapy of once-daily azithromycin (500 mg before the wound repair followed by 250 mg/day for 5 days) with cephalexin (1000 mg before wound repair followed by 250 mg every 6 hours for 5 days) in the treatment of patients with simple traumatic wounds. A total of 366 patients were randomly selected for the study and 303 were evaluated for the final analysis.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> On completion of therapy, the rate of observed infection was 9.6% in the cephalexin group (15 patients, odds ratio=0.77, 95% confidence interval, 0.56 to 1.06) and 5.4% in the azithromycin group (8 patients, odds ratio 1.42, 95% confidence interval, 0.80 to 2.52). Both treatment indicated similar prophylactic efficacy during the study (P=0.197).</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Our study showed that Azithromycin as infection prophylaxis in simple traumatic wounds had the same effect as cephalexin but azithromycin is easier to use and more cost-effective compared to cephalexin.</p>