A Double-Blind Clinical Comparison of Two Dosage Schedules of Cefatrizine in Children

Abstract

A double-blind, randomized clinical trial was carried out to compare the effectiveness of twice daily versus once daily administration of the cephalosporin, cefatrizine, in paediatric outpatients with bacterial infection of the respiratory tract. Thirty children were studied, aged 7 years 2 months (range, 4–-12 years). They were given 75 mg/kg·day cefatrizine either once daily or twice daily at 12 h intervals for 8 days. Fever, clinical symptoms, bacterial eradication and overall tolerance were evaluated. No significant differences were observed between once daily or twice daily administration. This is in agreement with other studies carried out on adults. It is concluded that cefatrizine may be given to paediatric out-patients for the treatment of bacterial infection of the respiratory tract only once daily with good clinical and overall results.

Keywords

Cefatrizine cephalosporin paediatrics respiratory tract bacterial infection bronchitis bronchopneumonia

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