Antibiotics rarely benefit patients with sinusitis

摘要

No subgroup of patients with sinusitis could be identified who might benefit more than others from antibiotics.Fhysicians prescribe antibiotics for most patients who are diagnosed with acute sinusitis, but is this helpful? To find out, researchers performed a meta-analysis of data from nine randomised trials that involved 2547 immunocompe-tent adult patients with clinical symptoms of sinusitis who received either antibiotics or placebo. All trials excluded patients who had signs and symptoms (high fever, periorbital swelling, erythema or intense facial pain) suggestive of serious complications that require antibiotic treatment.