Supplemental Digital Content TABLE 1. Studies Analyzed and Pertinent Characteristics First Author Year Study No. Quality Score* Penicillin Description Primary/ Second Subject Age Mean/Range (yr) Health Status Assay Method Detection Limit (μg/ml) Stollerman2 Stollerman2 1952 1 2i 15 15 BPG a BPG a S S 6-14 6-14, & 4 adults RF pts RF pts M luteus cup plate diffusionr M luteus cup plate diffusionr 0.0125 0.0125 Wyeth Lab6 1950s 3g 3 Benzathine penicillin NA NA NA NA 0.0125 Putnam34 1954 4 12 N-N'dibenzyl…b S 28-53 Various pts M luteus cup plate diffusionr 0.020 Ragab4 1954 5g 3 Benzathine penicillin S NA NA NA 0.009 12 BPG a S 13-67 Pneumo pts NA Walker3 1954 6 White5 1955 Mazziconacci6 1957 8 Wright37 Wright37 Wright37 1959 1959 1959 Carron39 Carron39 15 BPG P Adult Hlthy M luteus disk plate 15 BPG S 4-15 NA S. aureus plate diffusion 0.009 9j,k 10 j,k 11 j,k 15 15 15 BPG BPG BPG P P P Adult Adult Adult Hlthy prisoners Hlthy prisoners Hlthy prisoners M luteus plate diffusion r M luteus plate diffusion r M luteus plate diffusion r 0.0125 0.0125 0.0125 1961 1961 12 13d,i 15 15 Benzathine penicillin c Benzathine penicillin c S S Children, Children, RF pts RF pts M luteus plate diffusion r M luteus plate diffusionr 0.009 0.009 Raghuram35 Raghuram35 Raghuram35 Raghuram35 1979 1979 1979 1979 14 15 16 17 15 15 15 15 Benzathine penicillin Benzathine penicillin Benzathine penicillin Benzathine penicillin P S P P ~22±2 ~22±2 ~22±2 ~22±2 Hlthy RF, RHD pts Hlthy Hlthy M luteus plate diffusionrt M luteus plate diffusion rt M luteus plate diffusion rt M luteus plate diffusionrt 0.020 0.020 0.020 0.020 Ginsburg29 1982 18 15 BPG S 2-11, Impetigo pts M luteus plate diffusionr 0.008 Decourt28 1983 19 15 BPG ("Benzetacil") P 20-25 Hlthy M luteus plate diffusionr 0.005 diffusionr 0.002 Saran198540 Lue30 Saran198641 1985 1986 1986 7 0.02 diffusionr h 20 21 o 22 12 Benzathine 15 BPG 12 Benzathine penicillin d penicillin d S Adult, P 4-19 S =10.5 =10.5 =5 =23 Child (12+/-1.7) RHD pts M luteus plate RF pts NA RHD pts M luteus plate 0.020 diffusion r Padmavati33 1987 23 15 Benzathine penicillin S 9-12 RHD pts M luteus cup plate Bégué25 1988 24 15 benzathine-benzylpenicillin S “Children” RF pts B. subtilis plate diffusion diffusionr Kaplan21 0.01 diffusionr 0.002 NA NA Kaplan21 1989 1989 25 26n 15 15 BPG BPG S S 26-54 NA RF pts RF pts M luteus plate M luteus plate diffusionr 0.014 0.014 Thamlikitkul36 1992 27 15 BPG S 29 Adult RF/RHD pts M luteus plate diffusionr 0.015 Zaher38 Zaher38 1992 1992 28p 29p 15 15 BPG e BPG e S S 8-16 8-16 RF pts RF pts S. aureus plate diffusion os S. aureus plate diffusion os 0.022 0.022 Dorobat42 1992 30 15 Benzathine penicillinf S Adult Various Ill S. aureus plate diffusion o 0.03 Meira32 1993 1993 1993 31 32 33 15 15 15 BPG BPG BPG S S S “Adolescents” “Children” “Children” RF pts RF pts RF pts M luteus plate M luteus plate diffusionr M luteus plate diffusionr 0.006l 0.006l 0.006l Daniels27 1994 34 15 BPG (“Bicillin”) S ~13(±3) RF pts M luteus plate diffusionru 0.015 Meira32 Meira32 diffusionr 15 BPG (“Bicillin”) S 29 (16-49) RF pts M luteus plate diffusionr 0.025 15 BPG S ~10 (3-19) RF pts M luteus plate diffusionr 0.020 37 15 BPG ("Bicillin," Wyeth) P NA (~18-25) Hlthy Army M luteus plate diffusionr 0.006 2000 38q 15 BPGd S 12 (6-18) RF pts HPLCv 0.010 2000 39 15 Benzathine penicillinc P 16-60 Various ill & Hlthy NA 0.012 Currie26 1994 Lue31 1994 36 Bass22 1996 Oran24 Belov43 35 o Abbreviations: Hlthy, healthy; HPLC, high-performance liquid chromatography; MU, million units; NA, not available; RF, rheumatic fever; RHD, rheumatic heart disease The articles are ordered by year published. Studies that did not use 1.2 MU are not included in the analysis except for the Stollerman et al2 second study, which used 1.25 MU. *The 5 categories of quality-assessment were: (1) description of the characteristics of the populations, (2) specification of number of subjects at each time point, (3) adequate laboratory methods description, (4) results consistent with a reasonable range of published results, and (5) publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Each study was rated dichotomously by each author on each of the five categories. Thus, each study had a total possible score of 0 to 15. a Benzathine penicillin G (N-N'dibenzylethylenediamine). b N-N'dibenzylethylenediamine. c Benzathine penicillin –“Extencilline.” d Benzathine penicllin (“Penadure LA-12,” Wyeth). e “local preparation” in Alexandria Egypt. f Benzathine penicllin (“Moldamin,” prepared in Romania). g The data reported here are taken from Mazziconacci et al.6 The original article or report is unavailable. h Different numbers of subjects were tested at different time points. iThis study used two simultaneous 0.6MU injections rather than one 1.2MU. j Only the groups that were examined for serum pen G levels without prednisolone or procaine are included for this meta-analysis. k The first 2 groups were in a crossover design. For purposes of this meta-analysis, they will be treated simply as 2 groups receiving the same treatment in parallel l Levels were measured down to and reported as >0.01 μg/ml. m There were 2 groups, 1 receiving prophylaxis every 2 weeks and 1 every 3 weeks. n In Kaplan et al21, the 10 subjects in the first group are counted again in this aggregate of all measurements. The first group was identified with an age range, the second was not. The meta-analysis takes this into account. o The data set from the Lue et al 199431 study was apparently included in the larger data set reported in the Lue et al 199614 study. It is assumed that the age mean and range and dosage in the 1996 study are the same as reported in the 1994 study. p Kassem et al13 reported on the same data set as Zaher et al.38 The Zaher article is represented in this meta-analysis. q The Oran et al24 results for mean levels differed from the other studies by a factor of 10 and were excluded from the analysis of mean levels. However, the percentages above minimum protective that they reported appear within the expected range and were included in that analysis. r The organism is called “Sarcina lutea” or “Sarcina luteus” in the article. s See Grove and Randall46 for the method. t See Lightbrown and Sulitzeanu47 for the method. u See Sutherland and Rolindson48 for the method. v High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-6A Schimadzu detector, UV-VIS-spectrophotometric). References, Supplemental 24. Oran B, Tastekin A, Karaaslan S, Bas L, Aycicek A, Ceri A, et al. Prophylactic efficiency of 3-weekly benzathine penicillin G in rheumatic fever. Indian J Pediatr. 2000; 67(3): 163-7. 2 25. Bégué P, Fajac A, Girardet JP, Baron S, Quinet B. [Benzathine-benzylpenicillin in the prevention of acute rheumatic fever: new scheme of prescription]. Presse Med. 1988; 17(2): 82. 26. Currie BJ, Burt T, Kaplan EL. Penicillin concentrations after increased doses of benzathine penicillin G for prevention of secondary rheumatic fever. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1994; 38(5): 1203-4. 27. Daniels ED, Mohanlal D, Pettifor JM. Rheumatic fever prophylaxis in South Africa--is bicillin 1,2 million units every 4 weeks appropriate? S Afr Med J. 1994; 84(8 Pt 1): 477-81. 28. Decourt LV, Santos SR, Snitcowsky R, Pileggi F, Tsuzuki H, de Araujo Abreu AM, et al. [Serum levels of benzathine penicillin G after intramuscular administration] (in Portuguese). Arq Bras Cardiol. 1983; 40(1): 3-8. 29. Ginsburg CM, McCracken GH, Jr., Zweighaft TC. Serum penicillin concentrations after intramuscular administration of benzathine penicillin G in children. Pediatrics. 1982; 69(4): 452-4. 30. Lue HC, Wu MH, Hsieh KH, Lin GJ, Hsieh RP, Chiou JF. Rheumatic fever recurrences: controlled study of 3-week versus 4-week benzathine penicillin prevention programs. J Pediatr. 1986; 108(2): 299-304. 31. 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Is monthly injection of benzathine penicillin adequate for rheumatic fever prophylaxis in our country? J Assoc Physicians India. 1985; 33(10): 641-3. 41. Saran RK, Sinha N, Ahuja RC, Mehrotra A, Jain SK, Bhatia MC, et al. Serial serum penicillin levels following an injection of benzathine penicillin (12 lakh units) in children of rheumatic heart disease. Indian J Pediatr. 1986; 53(1): 99-103. 42. Dorobat O, Romanof E, Erscoiu S, Ceausu E, Posticescu R, Lazaroae D. Evaluating the minimum active concentrations of penicillin G and V and of retard forms in clinical conditions. Roum Arch Microbiol Immunol. 1992; 51(3): 157-64. 3 43. Belov BS, Cherniak AV, Sidorenko SV, Makarova RA. [A comparative evaluation of the pharmacokinetics of different forms of benzathine benzylpenicillin]. Antibiot Khimioter. 2000; 45(4): 18-21. 44. Pedroso MC, Ceravolo GS, Nakamura RKC, Bersani-Amado CA, Caparroz-Assef SM. Penicillin G benzathine: characteristic of prescription and use in community pharmacy. Acta Scientiarum. 2001; 23(3): 661-4. 45. Grove D, Randall W. Assay Methods of Antibiotics. A Laboratory Manual. New York: Medical Encyclopedia, Inc.; 1955. 46. Lightbrown J, Sulitzeanu D. The assay of penicillin in blood-serum using Sarcina lutea. Bull World Health Organ. 1957; 17(4-5): 553-67. 47. Sutherland R, Rolindson G. Methods of antibiotic assay. In: Reaves D, Phillips I, Williams J, Wise R, editors. Laboratory Methods in Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 1978. p. 171-8. 4