Moxifloxacin monotherapy versus ß-lactam mono- or combination therapy in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia

SummaryObjectiveIn this observational study, we compared the outcomes of moxifloxacin monotherapy as compared to ß-lactam monotherapy as well as ß-lactam combination therapy in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).MethodsPatients recruited within the German Competence Network for CAP (CAPNETZ) were evaluated for treatment regimen. Primary outcome variables were six months overall mortality, pneumonia-related mortality according to clinical judgment and treatment failures (necessity for treatment change and death).ResultsOverall, 4091 patients (mean age 64.4 ± 17.8 (range 18–101) years, 2433 male (59.5%)) were included. 2068 patients received moxifloxacin (n = 365) or ß-lactam monotherapy (n = 1703). 330 patients died within six months. After controlling for confounders in multivariate analysis, moxifloxacin monotherapy had higher survival as compared to ß-lactam monotherapy (hazard ratio for moxifloxacin 0.57, 95% CI 0.35–0.92). Multivariate analysis including interaction terms showed that the protective effect of moxifloxacin was not present for CRB-65 class 0 but increased with higher CRB-65 scores (HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.50–0.96). Regarding pneumonia-related death, moxifloxacin monotherapy was also protective in multivariate analysis (HR 0.36, 95% CI 0.13–0.99). Moxifloxacin was also significantly associated with less treatment failures (p < 0.001). In addition, it was not inferior to combination ß-lactam treatment (p = 0.062).ConclusionsIn CRB-65 class 0 moxifloxacin was equivalent to ß-lactams. Our observations are in support of a use of moxifloxacin monotherapy in hospitalized patients with moderate CAP (CRB-65 classes 1 and 2).