Trial reportThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2011
Impact on antibiotic prescription of rapid antigen detection testing in acute pharyngitis in adults: a randomised clinical trial.
Trial report in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and safety of Lanqin Oral Liquid combined with Western medicine for the treatment of pharyngitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Rash associated with antibiotic administration in patients with infectious mononucleosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Rapid tests to inform triage and antibiotic prescribing decisions for adults presenting with suspected acute respiratory infection: a rapid evidence synthesis of clinical effectiveness and cost-utility studies.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of rapid tests to guide antibiotic prescriptions for sore throat.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Rapid antigen detection and molecular tests for group A streptococcal infections for acute sore throat: systematic reviews and economic evaluation.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2020Pooled it
- Reduction of antibiotic prescriptions for acute respiratory tract infections in primary care: a systematic review.Implementation science : IS · 2018Pooled it
- Rapid antigen detection test for group A streptococcus in children with pharyngitis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Educational interventions to improve prescription and dispensing of antibiotics: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2014Pooled it
- Rapid antigen group A streptococcus test to diagnose pharyngitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2014Pooled it
- Influence of a guideline or an additional rapid strep test on antibiotic prescriptions for sore throat: the cluster randomized controlled trial of HALS (Hals und Antibiotika Leitlinien Strategien).BMC primary care · 2023Trial
- The Impact of Point-of-Care Testing for Group A Streptococcal Pharyngitis on Antibiotic Prescribing and Patient Health Outcomes in Outpatient Care: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Diagnostic Accuracy of Centor Score for Diagnosis of Group A Streptococcal Pharyngitis among Adults in Primary Care Clinics in Malaysia.The Malaysian journal of medical sciences : MJMS · 2022Article
- Article
- Impact of a Social Marketing Intervention on General Practitioners' Antibiotic Prescribing Practices for Acute Respiratory Tract Complaints in Malta.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- The antibiotic prescribing behaviors of physicians are changed via rapid antigen test practice in the context of rational drug useTurkish journal of medical sciences · 2020Article
- Diagnostic Methods, Clinical Guidelines, and Antibiotic Treatment for Group A Streptococcal Pharyngitis: A Narrative Review.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2020Review
- Potential for Molecular Testing for Group A Streptococcus to Improve Diagnosis and Management in a High-Risk Population: A Prospective Study.Open forum infectious diseases · 2019Article
- General practitioners' perceptions of delayed antibiotic prescription for respiratory tract infections: A phenomenographic study.PloS one · 2019Article
- Association Between Rapid Antigen Testing and Antibiotic Use and Accuracy of Peripheral Blood Parameters in Detecting Group A Streptococcus in Children With Tonsillopharyngitis.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2019Article
- [Twenty-five myths in infectious diseases in primary care associated with overdiagnosis and overtreatment].Atencion primaria · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcute pharyngitis is one of the most frequent reasons for a GP consultation, and in most cases an antibiotic is prescribed.
aimTo determine the impact of rapid antigen detection testing (RADT) to identify group A beta haemolytic streptococcus in acute pharyngitis on the utilisation of antibiotics and appropriateness of their use. DESIGN AND
settingCluster randomised controlled trial in primary care centres in Catalonia, Spain.
methodPatients with acute pharyngitis aged 14 years or older with at least one Centor criterion (fever, tonsillar exudate, tender enlarged anterior cervical lymph nodes, or absence of cough) were recruited. Participant physicians were randomly assigned to one of two study arms: an intervention group (assigned to RADT) and a control group (following usual care, without RADT).
resultsOf the 557 adults enrolled, 543 could be evaluated for analysis (281 [51.7%] in the intervention group and 262 [48.3%] in the control group). GPs without access to RADT were more likely to prescribe antibiotics compared with those who performed rapid tests (64.1% versus 43.8%, P<0.001). The more Centor criteria the patients presented, the greater the number of antibiotics prescribed, regardless of whether RADT was available (P<0.001). Antibiotics were prescribed in 30.7% of the cases with negative RADT results. Inappropriate antibiotic prescription was observed in 226 cases (43%), and was significantly greater in the control than in the intervention group (60% versus 26.9%; P<0.001).
conclusionEven though more than 30% of negative RADT results resulted in antibiotic prescribing, the study findings support the use of RADT in the consultation. This strategy has an important impact on reducing antibiotic prescription among adults with acute pharyngitis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.