ArticleEClinicalMedicine2023
Comparison of a short versus long-course antibiotic therapy for ventilator-associated pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Article in EClinicalMedicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Guideline
- [Ten key statements of the S3 guideline "Epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of adult patients with nosocomial pneumonia"].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2024Guideline
- Advances in ventilator-associated pneumonia: from pathophysiology to precision management.Intensive care medicine · 2026Article
- Individualized antibiotic therapy in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia in the intensive care unit.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Article
- Pediatric tracheostomy-associated respiratory infections: an evolving paradigm.Current opinion in pediatrics · 2026Review
- [Duration of antibiotic therapy: how short is short enough?]Innere Medizin (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Duration Matters: Tailoring Antibiotic Therapy for Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Optimal antibiotic use in the intensive care unit.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Review
- Ventilator-associated pneumonia.BJA education · 2025Review
- Multiplex PCR panel dynamics: implications for therapy duration and methodological considerations.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Article
- Antibiotic Therapy Duration for Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections: An Evidence-Based Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Duration of Antimicrobial Treatment in Adult Patients with Pneumonia: A Narrative Review.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Guidelines for Antibiotics Prescription in Critically Ill Patients.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Review
- [Antibiotic treatment of community-acquired and hospital-acquired pneumonia].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2023Review
- Treatment of critically ill patients with cefiderocol for infections caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens: review of the evidence.Annals of intensive care · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: For ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), the safety of short-course versus long-course antibiotic therapy is still debated, especially regarding documented VAP due to non-fermenting Gram-negative bacilli (NF-GNB). The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the rates of recurrence and relapse of VAP in patients receiving short-course (≤8 days) and long-course (≥10-15 days) of antibiotic therapy. Methods: The protocol for this study was registered in the PROSPERO database (ID: CRD42022365138). We performed an electronic search of the relevant literature and limited our search to data published from 2000 until September 1, 2022. We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the United States National Library of Medicine, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Embase, National Institutes of Health PubMed/MEDLINE, web of science and Google Scholar databases. The primary endpoint was the recurrence and relapses of VAP, secondary endpoints were 28-day mortality, mechanical ventilation duration, number of extra-pulmonary infections and length of ICU stay. Findings: We identified five relevant studies involving 1069 patients (530 patients in the short-course group and 539 patients in the long-course group). The meta-analysis did not reveal any significant difference between short and long-course antibiotic therapy for recurrence and relapses of VAP (odd ratio "OR" = 1.48, 95% confidence intervals (CI) [0.96, 2.28], p = 0.08 and OR = 1.45, 95% CI [0.94, 2.22], p = 0.09, respectively), including those due to NF-GNB (OR = 1.90, 95% CI [0.93, 3.33], p = 0.05 and OR = 1.76, 95% CI [0.93, 3.33], p = 0.08, respectively). No difference was found for 28 days-mortality (OR = 1.24, 95% CI [0.92, 1.67], p = 0.16), mechanical ventilation duration, number of extra-pulmonary infections and length of ICU stay. However, short-course therapy significantly increased the number of antibiotic-free days. Interpretation: Our meta-analysis showed that short-course antibiotic therapy did not result in increased number of recurence and relapses of VAP, suggesting that short-course should be preferred to reduce the exposure to antibiotics. Funding: None.
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.