Systematic review of trials comparing antibiotic with placebo for acute cough in adults

BMJ 1998;317:1014 ( 10 October )

Letters

Systematic review of trials comparing antibiotic with placebo for acute cough in adults

Data do not justify study's conclusions

Too few subjects were studied for useful conclusions to be drawn

Quality scores showed poor agreement

Authors' reply

Data do not justify study's conclusions

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Chapman has highlighted the confusion caused by the different interpretations of the report by the International Agencyfor Research on Cancer on the effects of passive smoking.¹By ignoring the size and direction of the effect and focusingon the lower limit of the confidence interval the agency cameto the erroneous conclusion that passive smoking does not causelung cancer. Unfortunately, Fahey et al have fallen into the sametrap in reporting the results of a systematic review of the useof antibiotics in acute cough.²

They state categorically in their discussion: "This systematic review shows that antibiotic treatment has no effect on theresolution of acute cough." This conclusion is not justified bythe data in their review. Two of the outcomes measured $---$ the resolutionof productive cough and clinical improvement $---$ show a pooled effectthat favours antibiotics but does not reach significance at the95% . . . [Full text of this article]

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