Should we now hold back from initially prescribing antibiotics for acute otitis media?

C B Del Mar; P P Glasziou

doi:10.1046/j.1440-1754.1999.t01-1-00344.x

Should we now hold back from initially prescribing antibiotics for acute otitis media?

J Paediatr Child Health. 1999 Feb;35(1):9-10. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1754.1999.t01-1-00344.x.

Authors

C B Del Mar¹, P P Glasziou

Affiliation

¹ Centre for General Practice, University of Queensland Medical School, Herston, Australia. c.delmar@mailbox.uq.edu.au

PMID: 10234626
DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1754.1999.t01-1-00344.x

Abstract

The research literature provides surprisingly little evidence of benefit for initially treating acute otitis media in children with antibiotics. We show how to calculate the amount of benefit and harm from the evidence, and how this might be applied to change management practice.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis

MeSH terms

Acute Disease
Anti-Bacterial Agents / adverse effects
Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use*
Child
Drug Prescriptions / statistics & numerical data*
Drug Utilization / statistics & numerical data*
Evidence-Based Medicine
Humans
Otitis Media / complications
Otitis Media / drug therapy*
Otitis Media / physiopathology
Patient Selection
Practice Patterns, Physicians' / statistics & numerical data
Treatment Outcome

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents