Trial reportThe New England journal of medicine2017
A Placebo-Controlled Trial of Antibiotics for Smaller Skin Abscesses.
Trial report in The New England journal of medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT00730028 (Randomized, Double-Blind Trial of Clindamycin, Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole, or Placebo for Uncomplicated Skin and Soft Tissue Infections Caused by Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus), which is not on this map. Cited by 60 papers, 2 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.
Randomized, Double-Blind Trial of Clindamycin, Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole, or Placebo for Uncomplicated Skin and Soft Tissue Infections Caused by Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus
Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 196 citations in OpenAlex.
- Incision and drainage of cutaneous abscess with or without cavity packing: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and trial sequential analysis of randomised controlled trials.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2021Pooled it
- Antibiotics for uncomplicated skin abscesses: systematic review and network meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2018Pooled it
- Subgroup Analysis of Antibiotic Treatment for Skin Abscesses.Annals of emergency medicine · 2018Trial
- Article
- Beyond Antibiotics: Therapeutic Strategies Utilizing Probiotics and Bacteriophages Against Drug-ResistantMicroorganisms · 2026Review
- [Common skin and soft tissue infections-current recommendations].Dermatologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Article
- A review on recent advances and challenges of microneedle technology for enhanced topical treatment of skin disorders.Archives of dermatological research · 2025Review
- Review
- Phenotypic and genotypic correlates of the sodium bicarbonate-responsive phenotype among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from skin and soft-tissue infections.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2025Article
- Secondary Bacterial Infections in Patients with Atopic Dermatitis or Other Common Dermatoses.American journal of clinical dermatology · 2024Review
- Reactive Microneedle Patches with Antibacterial and Dead Bacteria-Trapping Abilities for Skin Infection Treatment.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Review
- Community-acquired Staphylococcus aureus skin and soft tissue infection risk assessment using hotspot analysis and risk maps: the case of California emergency departments.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Case report: A rare case of skin abscess caused by coinfection ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- New Perianal Sepsis Risk Score Predicts Outcome of Elderly Patients with Perianal Abscesses.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Insufficient Representation of Patients With Obesity in Randomized Controlled Trials Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of Antimicrobials for Treatment of Skin and Skin Structure Infections: A Scoping Review.Open forum infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Purulent Skin and Soft Tissue Infections, Challenging the Practice of Incision and Drainage: A Scoping Review.Nursing research and practice · 2023Article
- Antibiotic susceptibility and clonal distribution ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUncomplicated skin abscesses are common, yet the appropriate management of the condition in the era of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is unclear.
methodsWe conducted a multicenter, prospective, double-blind trial involving outpatient adults and children. Patients were stratified according to the presence of a surgically drainable abscess, abscess size, the number of sites of skin infection, and the presence of nonpurulent cellulitis. Participants with a skin abscess 5 cm or smaller in diameter were enrolled. After abscess incision and drainage, participants were randomly assigned to receive clindamycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), or placebo for 10 days. The primary outcome was clinical cure 7 to 10 days after the end of treatment.
resultsWe enrolled 786 participants: 505 (64.2%) were adults and 281 (35.8%) were children. A total of 448 (57.0%) of the participants were male. S. aureus was isolated from 527 participants (67.0%), and MRSA was isolated from 388 (49.4%). Ten days after therapy in the intention-to-treat population, the cure rate among participants in the clindamycin group was similar to that in the TMP-SMX group (221 of 266 participants [83.1%] and 215 of 263 participants [81.7%], respectively; P=0.73), and the cure rate in each active-treatment group was higher than that in the placebo group (177 of 257 participants [68.9%], P<0.001 for both comparisons). The results in the population of patients who could be evaluated were similar. This beneficial effect was restricted to participants with S. aureus infection. Among the participants who were initially cured, new infections at 1 month of follow-up were less common in the clindamycin group (15 of 221, 6.8%) than in the TMP-SMX group (29 of 215 [13.5%], P=0.03) or the placebo group (22 of 177 [12.4%], P=0.06). Adverse events were more frequent with clindamycin (58 of 265 [21.9%]) than with TMP-SMX (29 of 261 [11.1%]) or placebo (32 of 255 [12.5%]); all adverse events resolved without sequelae. One participant who received TMP-SMX had a hypersensitivity reaction.
conclusionsAs compared with incision and drainage alone, clindamycin or TMP-SMX in conjunction with incision and drainage improves short-term outcomes in patients who have a simple abscess. This benefit must be weighed against the known side-effect profile of these antimicrobials. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00730028 .).
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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.