SynthesisCritical care (London, England)2011
Duration of antibiotic therapy for bacteremia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Critical care (London, England), 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 5 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
83 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 186 citations in OpenAlex.
- Antibiotic treatment for 7 days versus 14 days in patients with uncomplicated bloodstream infections: a Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and trial sequential analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Short-course versus long-course antibiotic treatment in patients with uncomplicated gram-negative bacteremia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics · 2021Pooled it
- Surviving sepsis campaign international guidelines for the management of septic shock and sepsis-associated organ dysfunction in children.Intensive care medicine · 2020Guideline
- Shorter Versus Longer Courses of Antibiotics for Infection in Hospitalized Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of hospital medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Strategies to reduce curative antibiotic therapy in intensive care units (adult and paediatric).Intensive care medicine · 2015Guideline
- A retrospectively registered pilot randomized controlled trial of postbiotic administration during antibiotic treatment increases microbiome diversity and enriches health-associated taxa.Infection and immunity · 2026Trial
- Short-course antibiotic regimen compared to conventional antibiotic treatment for gram-positive cocci infective endocarditis: randomized clinical trial (SATIE).BMC infectious diseases · 2020Trial
- Duration of antibiotic therapy in critically ill patients: a randomized controlled trial of a clinical and C-reactive protein-based protocol versus an evidence-based best practice strategy without biomarkers.Critical care (London, England) · 2020Trial
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- Comparing short to standard duration of antibiotic therapy for patients hospitalized with cellulitis (DANCE): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.BMC infectious diseases · 2014Trial
- Effect of adding metronidazole to meropenem on clinical efficacy in complicated intra-abdominal infections: a retrospective study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Seven versus fourteen days for resistant bloodstream infections: what do we actually know? A scoping review.Infection · 2026Review
- Epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and outcome of enterococcal bloodstream infections in critically ill patients in China: a single-center retrospective 10-year analysis.Microbiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Shorter versus longer-duration antibiotic treatments for immunocompetent patients with bloodstream infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Review
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23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionThe optimal duration of antibiotic therapy for bloodstream infections is unknown. Shorter durations of therapy have been demonstrated to be as effective as longer durations for many common infections; similar findings in bacteremia could enable hospitals to reduce antibiotic utilization, adverse events, resistance and costs.
methodsA search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE and COCHRANE databases was conducted for the years 1947-2010. Controlled trials were identified that randomized patients to shorter versus longer durations of treatment for bacteremia, or the infectious foci most commonly causing bacteremia in critically ill patients (catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI), intra-abdominal infections, pneumonia, pyelonephritis and skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTI)).
resultsTwenty-four eligible trials were identified, including one trial focusing exclusively on bacteremia, zero in catheter related bloodstream infection, three in intra-abdominal infection, six in pyelonephritis, thirteen in pneumonia and one in skin and soft tissue infection. Thirteen studies reported on 227 patients with bacteremia allocated to 'shorter' or 'longer' durations of treatment. Outcome data were available for 155 bacteremic patients: neonatal bacteremia (n = 66); intra-abdominal infection (40); pyelonephritis (9); and pneumonia (40). Among bacteremic patients receiving shorter (5-7 days) versus longer (7-21 days) antibiotic therapy, no significant difference was detected with respect to rates of clinical cure (45/52 versus 47/49, risk ratio 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.77-1.01), microbiologic cure (28/28 versus 30/32, risk ratio 1.05, 95% CI 0.91-1.21), and survival (15/17 versus 26/29, risk ratio 0.97, 95% CI 0.76-1.23).
conclusionsNo significant differences in clinical cure, microbiologic cure and survival were detected among bacteremic patients receiving shorter versus longer duration antibiotic therapy. An adequately powered randomized trial of bacteremic patients is needed to confirm these findings.
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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.