Cost-effective analysis about treatment of azithromycin and levo-ofloxacin in suspected SARS patients

AIM: To explore the cost-effective quality about the treatment of azithromycin and levo-ofloxacin in suspected contagious atypical pneumonia (SARS) patients. METHODS: Azithromycin and levo-ofloxacin were administered intravenously and orally, respectively. All suspected SARS patients (n=75) were divided into three groups according to their responses to the therapy: clinically diagnosed patients (group A, n=18), clinically excluded patients (group B, n=51), and patients with suspected bacterial pneumonia (group C, n=6). Duration of fever, temperature at admission, time of fever reduction, duration of hospitalization and total expenditure were recorded for each patient. RESULTS: There were no differences (P0.05) in age and temperature at admission between SARS group (group A) and non-SARS group (group B and C). 51 patients were excluded from SARS after 3-day treatment. The duration of hospitalization in non-SARS group was significantly shorter than that of group A ( 8.0 ± 4.0 days vs 13.4 ± 4.8 days, P 0.01 ), and the total medical expenditure of the former was markedly lower than that of the latter (4973±3410 yuan vs 7363±2835 yuan, P 0.01 ). All patients were restored well. A follow-up study showed that no patients of non-SARS group were misdiagnosed. The therapeutic expenditure for all 3 groups was far lower than the average cost for SARS and suspected SARS patients of Guangzhou City. CONCLUSION: Treatment with intravenous administration of azithromycin and oral administration of levo-ofloxacin provides an effective method to early exclude the SARS-free patients, and it is cheap according with the basic sanitary hygiene rules. This protocol deserves long-term clinical utilization, investigation and further improvement.