[Efficacy of moxifloxacin in treating bacterial conjunctivitis: a meta-analysis]

To estimate the effectiveness of moxifloxacin instillation in the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis.

Five randomized clinical trials on moxifloxacin were identified, three versus placebo, one versus ofloxacin, and another versus levofloxacin. The effectiveness parameters included clinical efficacy and drop-out rates for all reasons including lack of efficacy. The fixed and random effects were estimated on intent-to-treat populations. Models for risk ratios and risk differences as well as tests for study homogeneity were computed.

Patients treated with moxifloxacin dropped out less frequently (OR=2.22 [1.62-3.03]; p<0.001), had less treatment failure (OR=3.61 [2.30-5.65]; p<0.001), and experienced clinical cure more often (OR=1.59 [1.21-2.04]; p=0.001) than placebo-treated patients. In comparison to ofloxacin, patients treated with moxifloxacin had fewer drop-outs for reasons other than treatment failure (OR=1.92 [1.28-2.89]; p=0.02) and fewer drop-outs for treatment failure (OR=2.53 [1.41-4.56]; p=0.002).

This meta-analysis demonstrated the clinical efficacy of moxifloxacin compared to placebo. Fewer patients dropped out from moxifloxacin treatment compared to ofloxacin.