Antibiotics in acute non-pneumonic lower-respiratory tract infection

Abstract

We read with interest the study by Paul Little and colleagues1 that confirmed the findings of previous smaller studies2 and support the present recommendations that acute bronchitis should not be treated with antibiotics. Because the authors used a threshold of 1% for statistical significance, we wonder why one of the secondary outcomes—that fewer individuals experienced new or worsened symptoms in the amoxicillin group—was interpreted as significant (p=0·043). We think that, according to the methods of the authors, none of the primar Show more