Effectiveness and safety of levofloxacin in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of levofloxacin in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), and to provide a more reliable medication guide for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia. Clinical studies of levofloxacin for CAP were searched through online literature databases, and the final literature for analysis was identified after screening by inclusion and exclusion criteria. The quality of the literature was assessed according to the risk of bias assessment criteria of the Cochrane system. Literature information was extracted and meta-analysis was performed using RevMan software. The observational indicators were clinical cure rate, microbiologic (bacteriologic) success rate, adverse event rate, and mortality rate. After screening, a total of 8 papers were included in the study, totaling 2,272 study subjects, of which 1,155 patients who received levofloxacin treatment were considered as the study group. 1117 patients who received other antimicrobial drugs were considered as the control group. The literature was evaluated to have a low risk level and a high reference value. The results of meta analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the clinical cure rate, microbiologic (bacteriologic) success rate, adverse event rate and mortality rate between the study group and the control group (P>0.05).As a result of the study, it was concluded that: levofloxacin has significant efficacy and safety in the treatment of CAP, and other antimicrobial drugs (e.g., moxifloxacin) have comparable efficacy and higher safety than levofloxacin, which provides a more diversified solution for the treatment of CAP.