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. 2024 Oct;64(4):107302.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2024.107302. Epub 2024 Aug 13.

Increased risk of adverse drug reactions by higher linezolid dose per weight in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Johanna Kuhlin  1 , Lina Davies Forsman  2 , Aisha Osman  3 , Magdalena Skagerberg  4 , Jerker Jonsson  5 , Ramona Groenheit  6 , Mikael Mansjö  6 , Jim Werngren  6 , Jan-Willem Alffenaar  7 , Thomas Schön  8 , Judith Bruchfeld  2
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Free article

Increased risk of adverse drug reactions by higher linezolid dose per weight in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Johanna Kuhlin et al. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2024 Oct.
Free article

Abstract

Objectives: Linezolid treatment has a high risk of toxicity and adverse drug reactions (ADR) are frequent. Few studies have investigated risk factors of major ADRs separately, therefore, we aimed to evaluate major ADRs including peripheral neuropathy in relation to risk factors and drug concentration levels of linezolid in a high-resource setting for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study including participants treated with a linezolid-containing MDR-TB regimen in Sweden 1992-2018. Data was collected from medical records. ADRs were classified according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 5.0).

Results: Of all participants (n = 132), 43.2% were female and the median age 28 y. The median linezolid treatment was 6.5 months (IQR 3.0-12.7) with a median daily dose of 9.6 mg/kg/d. Any ADR was seen in 58.3% (n = 77) of participants, with 35.6% having peripheral neuropathy (n = 47), 27.3% anaemia (n = 36), 22.0% leukopenia (n = 36) while 6.1% (n = 8) had optic neuritis. The median time for peripheral neuropathy was 3.6 months (IQR 2.1-5.9) and 8.3 months (6.2-10.7) for optic neuritis. A >2.0 mg/L trough concentration (n = 40) was associated with anaemia (P = 0.0038) and thrombocytopenia (P = 0.009) but not with peripheral neuropathy. In multivariable analysis, a dose ≥12 mg/kg/d was associated with time to peripheral neuropathy (HR 2.89, 95% CI 1.08-7.74, P = 0.035), anaemia (HR 6.62, 95% CI 2.22-19.8, P = 0.001) and leukopenia (HR 5.23, 95% CI 1.48-18.5, P = 0.010).

Conclusions: Linezolid ADRs were frequent in a high-resource setting. Structured, regular follow-up for ADRs and adjusting dosing according to body weight followed-up by monitoring of drug concentrations early may reduce toxicity.

Keywords: Anaemia; Drug concentrations; Leukopenia; Linezolid; MDR-TB; Peripheral neuropathy; Thrombocytopenia; adverse drug reactions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interests JJ is heading the Swedish national advisory board on MDR-TB and other difficult to treat cases and JB, LDF and TS are also members of the advisory board. JW is the scientific secretary in the EUCAST steering committee on antimycobacterial susceptibility testing, which is an unpaid position. JWA has been giving lectures on an infectious diseases conference on therapeutic drug monitoring for linezolid and received an educational fee from Pfizer. JB received a payment fee for lectures on Post-COVID by Astra Zeneca and Novartis. JK, AO, MS, MM, and RG have no conflict of interest to declare.

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