There are important public health reasons
to resolve the controversy regarding the
optimal treatment for Gram-positive HAP. A
perceived difference in clinical efficacy is likely
ARTICLE SUMMARY
Strengths and limitations of this study
▪ Linezolid and vancomycin have similar efficacy
and safety profiles.
▪ The near-zero efficacy difference between both
antibiotics demonstrates that no drug is superior
for the treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia.
▪ Our results remained consistent across different
patient populations and study designs for both
clinical response and mortality outcomes.
▪ Randomised controlled trials set selective inclusion
criteria that can limit their generalisability to
unselected populations.
Kalil AC, Klompas M, Haynatzki G, et al. BMJ Open 2013;3:e003912. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003912 1
Open Access Research
Downloaded from http://bmjopen.bmj.com/ on July 9, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
to drive increased usage of one agent versus the other with
consequent risk of unintended consequences. In the case
of linezolid, these include increased risk of outbreaks of
linezolid resistant organisms, higher total drug costs and
adverse drug events such as serotonin syndrome in
patients with interacting medications and cytopenias in
patients treated with prolonged courses.11 In the case of
vancomycin, these include increased risk of clinical failure
if the drug is underdosed, increased risk of nephrotoxicity
if the drug is overdosed and central venous catheter complications
such as bloodstream infections and thromboembolic
disease.1