Personalized Dosing of Linezolid to Reduce the Risk of Thrombocytopenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: Linezolid-induced thrombocytopenia (LIT) occurs in a dose-dependent manner. There is no consensus regarding personalized dosing of linezolid in the real world. This study investigated the usefulness of personalized dosing for the potential mitigation of LIT compared with standard dosing. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed using 4 medical electronic databases. Inclusion criteria were original research articles published up to October 23, 2023, whereas nonoriginal articles were excluded. Eligible participants included adults who were administered linezolid. A random-effects model was used to synthesize the results. RESULTS: Four studies were eligible for inclusion. There were 208 patients in the personalized dosing (intervention) group and 195 patients in the standard dosing (comparison) group. The odds ratio for the intervention was 0.648 (95% confidence interval: 0.150-2.797), although significant heterogeneity was observed ( I2 = 83.3%). An ad hoc analysis was performed by excluding one study with a significant bias risk in the treatment duration. The odds ratio for the intervention in the ad hoc analysis was 0.356 (95% confidence interval: 0.179-0.708) with little heterogeneity, showing a lower incidence risk of LIT. CONCLUSIONS: Personalized dosing in linezolid therapy may mitigate the risk of LIT.