SynthesisJournal of hospital medicine2018
Shorter Versus Longer Courses of Antibiotics for Infection in Hospitalized Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of hospital medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
53 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Short vs long-course antibiotic therapy in pyelonephritis: a comparison of systematic reviews and guidelines for the SIMI choosing wisely campaign.Internal and emergency medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Shorter Versus Longer Courses of Antibiotics for Infection in Hospitalized Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of hospital medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Biomarker guided antibiotic stewardship in community acquired pneumonia: A randomized controlled trial.PloS one · 2024Trial
- Defining a Non-Inferiority Margin for Delirium Resolution in a Clinical Trial of Older Adults With Bacteriuria and Abnormal Urine Tests.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- Patterns and predictors of readmission among sepsis survivors in a tertiary emergency department in Ethiopia.IJID regions · 2026Article
- Antibiotic Use, Healthcare-Associated Infections, and Antimicrobial Resistance in Intensive Care Unit of a Serbian Tertiary University Hospital, 2018-2024: An Ecological Analysis.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Seven versus fourteen days of antibiotic therapy in bloodstream infections: the BALANCE trial.Internal and emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Antibiotic Therapy Duration for Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections: An Evidence-Based Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Knowledge and behaviors of Turkish dentists regarding rational drug use in pediatric patients: a cross-sectional survey.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- Article
- Gut Microbiome in Human Melioidosis: Composition and Resistome Dynamics from Diagnosis to Discovery.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Antibiotic-Induced Immunosuppression-A Focus on Cellular Immunity.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Assessment of De-Escalation of Empirical Antimicrobial Therapy in Medical Wards with Recognized Prevalence of Multi-Drug-Resistant Pathogens: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study in Non-ICU Patients with Microbiologically Documented Infection.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- An investigation of broad-spectrum antibiotic-induced liver injury based on the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System and retrospective observational study.Scientific reports · 2024Observational
- The importance of antibiotic treatment duration in antimicrobial resistance.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2024Review
- More isn't always better: antibiotic duration after surgical decortication in pleural empyema.Journal of thoracic disease · 2024Article
- Antibiotics in anesthesia and critical care.Annals of translational medicine · 2024Review
- Cohort study of patients with advanced cancer: outcomes associated with duration of antibiotic therapy for non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2024Article
- Medical treatment of pleural infection: antibiotic duration and corticosteroid usefulness.Breathe (Sheffield, England) · 2023Article
- Impact of a sustained, collaborative antimicrobial stewardship programme in spinal cord injury patients.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInfection is a leading cause of hospitalization with high morbidity and mortality, but there are limited data to guide the duration of antibiotic therapy. PURPOSE: Systematic review to compare outcomes of shorter versus longer antibiotic courses among hospitalized adults and adolescents. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE and Embase databases, 1990-2017. STUDY SELECTION: Inclusion criteria were human randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in English comparing a prespecified short course of antibiotics to a longer course for treatment of infection in hospitalized adults and adolescents aged 12 years and older. DATA EXTRACTION: Two authors independently extracted study characteristics, methods of statistical analysis, outcomes, and risk of bias. DATA SYNTHESIS: Of 5187 unique citations identified, 19 RCTs comprising 2867 patients met our inclusion criteria, including the following: 9 noninferiority trials, 1 superiority design trial, and 9 pilot studies. Across 13 studies evaluating 1727 patients, no significant difference in clinical efficacy was observed (d = 1.6% [95% confidence interval (CI), -1.0%-4.2%]). No significant difference was detected in microbiologic cure (8 studies, d = 1.2% [95% CI, -4.1%-6.4%]), short-term mortality (8 studies, d = 0.3% [95% CI, -1.2%-1.8%]), longer-term mortality (3 studies, d = -0.4% [95% CI, -6.3%-5.5%]), or recurrence (10 studies, d = 2.1% [95% CI, -1.2%-5.3%]). Heterogeneity across studies was not significant for any of the primary outcomes.
conclusionsBased on the available literature, shorter courses of antibiotics can be safely utilized in hospitalized patients with common infections, including pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and intra-abdominal infection, to achieve clinical and microbiologic resolution without adverse effects on mortality or recurrence.
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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.