Effect of Neonatal Azithromycin on All-Cause and Cause-Specific Infant Mortality: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Mass azithromycin distribution reduces all-cause childhood mortality in some high-mortality settings in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the greatest benefits have been shown in children 1 to 5 months old living in areas with high mortality rates, no evidence of a benefit was found of neonatal azithromycin in a low-mortality setting on mortality at 6 months. We conducted a 1:1 randomized, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the effect of a single oral 20-mg/kg dose of azithromycin or matching placebo administered during the neonatal period on all-cause and cause-specific infant mortality at 12 months of age in five regions of Burkina Faso. Neonates were eligible if they were between the ages of 8 and 27 days and weighed at least 2,500 g at enrollment. Cause of death was determined via the WHO 2016 verbal autopsy tool. We compared all-cause and cause-specific mortality using binomial regression. Of 21,832 infants enrolled in the study, 116 died by 12 months of age. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality between the azithromycin and placebo groups (azithromycin: 52 deaths, 0.5%; placebo, 64 deaths, 0.7%; hazard ratio, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.56–1.17; P = 0.30). There was no evidence of a difference in the distribution of causes of death (P = 0.40) and no significant difference in any specific cause of death between groups. Mortality rates were low at 12 months of age, and there was no evidence of an effect of neonatal azithromycin on all-cause or cause-specific mortality.