Fluoroquinolone and No Risk of Achilles-tendinopathy in Childhood Pneumonia Under Eight Years of Age-a Nationwide Retrospective Cohort

Background: The emergence of macrolide-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MRMP) has made its treatment challenging. A few guidelines have recommended fluoroquinolones (FQs) as second-line drugs of choice for treating MRMP in children under the age of eight, but concerns about potential adverse events (i.e., Achilles tendinopathy; AT) have been raised. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the use of FQs and the risk of AT in pneumonia in children under eight years of age.

Methods: Children hospitalized with pneumonia (total of 2,213,807 episodes) from 2002 to 2017 were enrolled utilizing the Korean National Health Insurance Sharing Service (NHISS) database. The independent risk of FQs for AT was analyzed by a generalized estimating equation with adjustment for age, sex, and underlying diseases.

Results: Among 2,213,807 episodes of pneumonia hospitalization, children in a total of 6,229 episodes (0.28%) were treated with FQs (levofloxacin 40.9%, ciprofloxacin 36.1%, moxifloxacin 11.6%, and others 11.4%). The FQ-exposure group showed a 0.19% (12/6,229) incidence of AT within 30 days after the first administration of FQ. The use of FQs increased the risk of AT (OR 3.00; 95% CI: 1.71-5.29), but became null after adjusting for age, sex, and underlying diseases (aOR 0.85; 95% CI: 0.48-1.51). All AT related to the use of FQs occurred after the use of ciprofloxacin or levofloxacin, and not in children under eight years of age.

Conclusions: AT was a rare adverse event of FQ use for childhood pneumonia, particularly under eight years of age. Clinicians could consider using FQs as a second-line option in the treatment of childhood pneumonia when there are no alternative therapeutic options.