Review: antibiotics are effective for acute purulent rhinitis but are associated with increased gastrointestinal side effects
Q Are antibiotics effective and safe for acute purulent rhinitis?
METHODS
Data sources:
Medline, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (up to November 2005), bibliographies of published reviews, and authors.
Study selection and assessment:
randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared antibiotics with placebo in patients of any age with acute purulent rhinitis (duration <10 d). Studies of patients with sinusitis were excluded. 7 RCTs met the selection criteria; 6 RCTs (n = 1647, age >2 mo) were included in the quantitative analysis; 2 RCTs included only children. Quality assessment of individual studies was based on the Jadad scale. All 6 RCTs had Jadad scores of 5 out …
