You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Treatment
Review: delayed or immediate antibiotic prescriptions have similar clinical outcomes in respiratory infections

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ebn.11.2.46

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    G Spurling

    Dr G Spurling, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; geoffspurling@optusnet.com.au

    QUESTION

    What is the relative effectiveness of delayed, immediate, or no antibiotic (AB) prescriptions for acute respiratory infections?

    METHODS

    Data sources:

    Medline (1966 to January 2007), EMBASE/Excerpta Medica (1990–2007), Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2006), Current Contents–ISI Web of Knowledge (1998 to January 2007), and reference lists.

    Study selection and assessment:

    randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared prescriptions of delayed ABs (>48 h) with immediate ABs or no ABs for acute respiratory tract infections (sore throat, otitis media, or common cold) in patients of any age. 9 RCTs met the selection criteria and had quality scores ⩾6 out of 11 (high quality).

    Outcomes:

    included clinical outcomes (pain, fever, malaise, or cough), AB use, and patient satisfaction.

    MAIN RESULTS

    Sore throat: delayed …

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Source of funding: General Practice Education and Training Australia.