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Shorter Versus Longer Courses of Antibiotics for Infection in Hospitalized Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Author(s) -
Royer Stephanie,
DeMerle Kimberley M.,
Dickson Robert P.,
Prescott Hallie C.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of hospital medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.128
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1553-5606
pISSN - 1553-5592
DOI - 10.12788/jhm.2905
Subject(s) - medicine , confidence interval , medline , meta analysis , randomized controlled trial , data extraction , pneumonia , antibiotics , clinical trial , intensive care medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , political science , law , biology
BACKGROUND Infection is a leading cause of hospitalization with high morbidity and mortality, but there are limited data to guide the duration of antibiotic therapy. PURPOSE Systematic review to compare outcomes of shorter versus longer antibiotic courses among hospitalized adults and adolescents. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE and Embase databases, 1990‐2017. STUDY SELECTION Inclusion criteria were human randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in English comparing a prespecified short course of antibiotics to a longer course for treatment of infection in hospitalized adults and adolescents aged 12 years and older. DATA EXTRACTION Two authors independently extracted study characteristics, methods of statistical analysis, outcomes, and risk of bias. DATA SYNTHESIS Of 5187 unique citations identified, 19 RCTs comprising 2867 patients met our inclusion criteria, including the following: 9 noninferiority trials, 1 superiority design trial, and 9 pilot studies. Across 13 studies evaluating 1727 patients, no significant difference in clinical efficacy was observed (d = 1.6% [95% confidence interval (CI), ‐1.0%‐4.2%]). No significant difference was detected in microbiologic cure (8 studies, d = 1.2% [95% CI, ‐4.1%‐6.4%]), short‐term mortality (8 studies, d = 0.3% [95% CI, ‐1.2%‐1.8%]), longer‐term mortality (3 studies, d = ‐0.4% [95% CI, ‐6.3%‐5.5%]), or recurrence (10 studies, d = 2.1% [95% CI, ‐1.2%‐5.3%]). Heterogeneity across studies was not significant for any of the primary outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Based on the available literature, shorter courses of antibiotics can be safely utilized in hospitalized patients with common infections, including pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and intra‐abdominal infection, to achieve clinical and microbiologic resolution without adverse effects on mortality or recurrence.