ArticleBMC pulmonary medicine2025
Comparison of initial empirical antibiotic regimens in severe community-acquired pneumonia: a network meta-analysis.
Article in BMC pulmonary medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Comparative study of piperacillin-tazobactam versus ampicillin in the treatment of severe pneumonia in children: A retrospective study.Medicine · 2026Article
- Impact of macrolide therapy on clinical outcomes in hospitalized pneumonia patients: a retrospective study from Lebanese hospitals.Scientific reports · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSevere community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Identifying the optimal antibiotic regimen for treating SCAP is crucial for improving patient outcomes.
methodsWe searched the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials databases to identify studies reporting initial empirical antibiotic regimens in patients with SCAP. We performed a network meta-analysis to compare the relative efficacy of different antibiotic regimens in treating SCAP. The primary outcome was overall mortality. The second outcomes were 30-day mortality and in-hospital mortality.
resultsThis network meta-analysis included 1 randomized clinical trial and 13 observational studies with 8142 patients, categorized into five treatment groups: β-lactam antibiotics, β-lactam antibiotics plus doxycycline, β-lactam antibiotics plus fluoroquinolones, β-lactam antibiotics plus macrolides, and fluoroquinolones monotherapy. β-lactam antibiotics plus macrolides was ranked as the most effective treatment (surface under the cumulative ranking curve, 92.0%; mean rank, 1.3). The β-lactam antibiotics plus macrolides combination significantly reduced overall mortality compared to β-lactam antibiotics alone (RR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.64-0.96) and β-lactam antibiotics plus fluoroquinolones (RR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.64-0.82).
conclusionOur findings suggest that β-lactam antibiotics plus macrolides may be the optimal treatment for SCAP. β-lactam antibiotics monotherapy and β-lactam antibiotics plus fluoroquinolones should not be recommended due to their inferior outcomes.
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