Abstract: Objective To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of azithromycin in treatment of bronchial asthma. Methods
Reports of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) describing azithromycin for treatment of asthma published before December
2013 were searched in CNKI, WANFANG, PubMed and Medline databases. The data of the included RCTs were extracted and
the data quality was evaluated by two assessors independently. Meta-analyses were performed with Revman 5.1 software.
Results Eight RCTs were identified. Meta-analysis of the data showed that compared with the control group, azithromycin
treatment significantly improved the patients’ PEF (WMD=0.15, 95%CI=0.06-0.24, P=0.001), scores of asthma control test (ACT)
(WMD=1.59, 95%CI=0.95-2.23, P<0.00001), and FEV1% (WMD=1.44, 95%CI=0.40-2.49, P=0.007), but the improvement of FEV1%
was observed only in Chinese patients (WMD=1.48, 95%CI=0.40-2.57, P=0.007). The scores of asthma control questionnaire
(WMD=0.07, 95%CI=-0.11-0.25, P=0.45) or asthma quality of life questionnaire (WMD=-0.06, 95%CI=-0.42-0.31, P=0.77) were not
affected by azithromycin. No severe adverse events were reported in these included studies. Conclusion Azithromycin for
asthma treatment can improve PEF, ACT and FEV1% (in Chinese patients only) but shows no significant effect on the quality
of life of the patients. Azithromycin is well tolerated and may therefore be beneficial as adjuvant therapy for asthma.