SynthesisClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2018
Busting the Myth of "Static vs Cidal": A Systemic Literature Review.
Synthesis in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
87 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 165 citations in OpenAlex.
- In search for a synergistic combination against pandrug-resistant A. baumannii; methodological considerations.Infection · 2022Pooled it
- Evaluation of cefiderocol trailing and other unclear susceptibility testing endpoints forJournal of clinical microbiology · 2026Article
- Antimicrobial-laden PerOssal beads display in vitro inhibition and killing of extensively drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria associated with conflict wounds in Ukraine.Bone & joint research · 2026Article
- Carbapenemase type-dependent pharmacodynamic activity of minocycline-biapenem combination against carbapenemase-producingJAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2026Article
- Beyond β-Lactams: Defining the Role of Eravacycline in Multidrug-Resistant and Metallo-β-Lactamase-Producing Infections.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Repurposing Birabresib to target Gram‑positive bacteria.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2026Article
- The role of the innate immune system in shaping the dynamics of antimicrobial treatment.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Quinolone tolerance inmLife · 2026Article
- Late-Stage Functionalization of the Rifamycin Core via Click Chemistry Toward New Antibacterial Derivatives.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Doxycycline forThe Journal of pharmacy technology : jPT : official publication of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians · 2026Review
- Organic Polyurethane Surface Structures to Manufacture Noneluting Antimicrobial Polyurethanes: A Systematic Review of Literature.BioMed research international · 2026Review
- Evaluation of Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activity ofMicroorganisms · 2025Article
- Principles of bacteriostatic and bactericidal antibiotics at subinhibitory concentrations.mBio · 2025Article
- Evolving treatment strategies for invasive Streptococcus pyogenes in children in the postpandemic era.Clinical and experimental pediatrics · 2025Article
- Legends, dogmas, presumptions, and demystifications in antibiotic therapy.Revista espanola de quimioterapia : publicacion oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Quimioterapia · 2025Review
- Biocompatible Guanidine-Functionalized Compounds with Biofilm and Membrane Disruptive Activity Against MRSA.ACS infectious diseases · 2025Article
- The role of innate immunity, antibiotics, and bacteriophages in the course of bacterial infections and their treatment.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- The role of innate immunity, antibiotics, and bacteriophages in the course of bacterial infections and their treatment.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Static vs. cidal: it's not complex; it's simply incorrect.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2025Article
- The role of bacterial metabolism in antimicrobial resistance.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
We sought to determine if clinical data validate the dogma that bactericidal antibiotics are more clinically effective than bacteriostatic agents. We performed a systematic literature review of published, randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) that compared a bacteriostatic agent to a bactericidal agent in the treatment of clinical, bacterial infections. Of 56 identified trials published since 1985, 49 found no significant difference in efficacy between bacteriostatic and bactericidal agents. In 6 trials it was found that the bacteriostatic agent was superior to the bactericidal agent in efficacy. Only 1 trial found that the bactericidal agent was superior; in that case, the inferiority of the static agent was explainable by underdosing of the drug based on pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic analysis. Thus, virtually all available data from high-quality, RCTs demonstrate no intrinsic superiority of bactericidal compared to bacteriostatic agents. Other drug characteristics such as optimal dosing, pharmacokinetics, and tissue penetration may be more important efficacy drivers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.