Table 1.

Possible adverse effects associated with acne treatment with oral tetracycline, oxytetracycline, minocycline, and erythromycin: Statistically significant adverse effects are highlighted in bold.

DRUGADVERSE EFFECTSTUDY TYPENO. OF PARTICIPANTSRISK (95% CI)COMMENTS
MinocyclineSLERetrospective cohort97 694

  • HR = 2.64 (1.51 to 4.66)

  • Prevalence of 8.8 cases per 100 000 patient-years

  • Risk increases with long-term use

MinocyclineSLECase-control875

  • OR = 4.23 (1.03 to 42.74)

NA
Minocycline or other tetracyclinesSLECase-control27 688

  • 8.5 (2.1 to 3.5) for minocycline

  • 1.7 (0.4 to 8.1) for other tetracyclines

Absolute risk for tetracyclines is 52.8 cases per 100 000 prescriptions
Minocycline, tetracycline or oxytetracycline, and erythromycinLiver dysfunctionCase-control29 332

  • ORadj = 2.10 (1.30 to 3.40) for minocycline

  • ORadj = 1.46 (0.81 to 2.64) for tetracycline or oxytetracycline

  • ORadj = 1.64 (0.71 to 3.80) for erythromycin

Incidence was 1.04 cases per 10 000 exposed person-months with minocycline, and 0.69 cases per 10 000 exposed person-months with tetracycline or oxytetracycline

  • HR—hazard ratio, ORadj—adjusted odds ratio, NA—not applicable, OR—odds ratio, SLE—systemic lupus erythematosus.

  • Data from Garner et al.1