In this article, we will discuss antibiotics for colds and acute suppurative rhinitis.
When you have a cold or acute suppurative rhinitis, do you ever get prescribed antibiotics?
There are many things that have been said about antibiotic prescriptions, such as the lack of evidence, but the study I am going to introduce here investigates these issues.
Contents of the study
It has long been believed that antibiotics play no role in the treatment of common colds, but they are sometimes prescribed in the belief that they may prevent secondary bacterial infections.
This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of antibiotics compared to placebo in reducing the general and specific nasopharyngeal symptoms of acute upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) [common cold].
It is being determined whether antibiotics have any effect on the outcome of acute suppurative rhinitis and acute clear rhinitis lasting less than 10 days prior to intervention, and whether there are any significant adverse outcomes associated with antibiotic therapy for participants with a clinical diagnosis of acute URTI or acute suppurative rhinitis.
Eleven studies were included in this updated review.
Six studies contributed to one or more analyses related to the common cold, involving up to 1047 participants.
Five studies contributed to one or more analyses related to suppurative rhinitis, with up to 791 participants.
One study contributed data on adverse events only, and one study met the selection criteria but reported only summary statistics without providing numerical data that could be included in a meta-analysis.Interpretation of the combined data is limited because some studies included only children, only adults, or only men.
A wide range of antibiotics were used, and results were measured in a variety of ways.
There was a moderate risk of bias due to unreported method details or because an unknown number of participants were likely to have chest or sinus infections.
Due to the common cold, participants who received antibiotics did not do better than those who received placebo in terms of lack of healing or persistence of symptoms.
This was based on a pooled analysis of six trials with a total of 1047 participants.
The RR of adverse effects in the antibiotic group was 1.8, 95% CI 1.01 to 3.21 (variable effect).
Adult participants had a significantly higher risk of side effects from antibiotics than placebo, but there was no significant risk in children, according to the study.
The pooled RR for persistence of acute suppurative rhinitis with antibiotics compared to placebo was 0.73, based on four studies with 723 participants. (Variable effect)
Studies of antibiotics for acute suppurative rhinitis showed an increase in side effects.
According to the author's conclusion.
There is no evidence of an effect of antibiotics on colds or the persistence of acute suppurative rhinitis in children or adults. There is evidence that antibiotics cause serious side effects in adults when given for the common cold and in all ages when given for acute suppurative rhinitis. Routine use of antibiotics for these conditions is not recommended.
Kenealy T, Arroll B. Antibiotics for common cold and acute purulent rhinitis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, Issue 6. Art. No.: CD000247. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD000247.pub3.
Summary
This study may have shown that there is no point in giving antibiotics for colds and acute suppurative rhinitis.
As long as there is no benefit, there is no need to administer the medication and you can refuse the antibiotic when you see the doctor yourself.
In the study, there was a small risk to the child, but it may not be necessary as there is no benefit.
