| 1. |
- Boateng, Irene, et al.
(author)
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Using microbiological data to improve the use of antibiotics for respiratory tract infections: A protocol for an individual patient data meta-analysis
- 2023
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In: PLOS ONE. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1932-6203. ; 18:11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundResistance to antibiotics is rising and threatens future antibiotic effectiveness. 'Antibiotic targeting' ensures patients who may benefit from antibiotics receive them, while being safely withheld from those who may not. Point-of-care tests may assist with antibiotic targeting by allowing primary care clinicians to establish if symptomatic patients have a viral, bacterial, combined, or no infection. However, because organisms can be harmlessly carried, it is important to know if the presence of the virus/bacteria is related to the illness for which the patient is being assessed. One way to do this is to look for associations with more severe/prolonged symptoms and test results. Previous research to answer this question for acute respiratory tract infections has given conflicting results with studies has not having enough participants to provide statistical confidence.AimTo undertake a synthesis of IPD from both randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and observational cohort studies of respiratory tract infections (RTI) in order to investigate the prognostic value of microbiological data in addition to, or instead of, clinical symptoms and signs.MethodsA systematic search of Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid Medline and Ovid Embase will be carried out for studies of acute respiratory infection in primary care settings. The outcomes of interest are duration of disease, severity of disease, repeated consultation with new/worsening illness and complications requiring hospitalisation. Authors of eligible studies will be contacted to provide anonymised individual participant data. The data will be harmonised and aggregated. Multilevel regression analysis will be conducted to determine key outcome measures for different potential pathogens and whether these offer any additional information on prognosis beyond clinical symptoms and signs.Trial registrationPROSPERO Registration number: CRD42023376769.
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| 2. |
- Heinz, Judith, et al.
(author)
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Strategies to reduce antibiotic use in women with uncomplicated urinary tract infection in primary care : protocol of a systematic review and meta-analysis including individual patient data
- 2020
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In: BMJ Open. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2044-6055. ; 10:10
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI) in women is a common reason to present in general practice and is usually treated with antibiotics to reduce symptom severity and duration. Results of recent clinical trials indicate that non-antibiotic treatment approaches can also be effective. However, it remains unclear which patients would benefit from antibiotic treatment and which can effectively and safely be treated without antibiotics. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to estimate the effect of treatment strategies to reduce antibiotic use in comparison with immediate antibiotic treatment and to identify prognostic factors and moderators of treatment effects. A further aim is to identify subgroups of patients benefiting from a specific therapy.Methods and analysis: A systematic literature search will be performed to identify randomised controlled trials which investigated the effect of treatment strategies to reduce antibiotic use in female adults with uncomplicated UTI compared with immediate antibiotic treatment. Therefore, the primary outcome of the meta-analysis is incomplete recovery. Anonymised individual patient data (IPD) will be collected. Aggregate data will be used for pairwise comparisons of treatment strategies using meta-analysis models with random effects accounting for potential between-study heterogeneity. Potential effect moderators will be explored in meta-regressions. For IPD, generalised linear mixed models will be used, which may be adjusted for baseline characteristics. Interactions of baseline variables with treatment effects will be explored. These models will be used to assess direct comparisons of treatment, but might be extended to networks.Ethics and dissemination: The local institutional review and ethics board judged the project a secondary analysis of existing anonymous data which meet the criteria for waiver of ethics review. Dissemination of the results will be via published scientific papers and presentations. Key messages will be promoted for example, via social media or press releases.
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| 3. |
- Kaußner, Yvonne, et al.
(author)
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Reducing antibiotic use in uncomplicated urinary tract infections in adult women : a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis
- 2022
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In: Clinical Microbiology and Infection. - : Elsevier. - 1198-743X .- 1469-0691. ; 28:12, s. 1558-1566
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) investigated analgesics, herbal formulations, delayed prescription of antibiotics, and placebo to prevent overprescription of antibiotics in women with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (uUTI).Objectives: To estimate the effect of these strategies and to identify symptoms, signs, or other factors that indicate a benefit from these strategies.Data sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, LILACS, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and of Controlled Trials, and ClinicalTrials.Study eligibility criteria, participants and interventions: RCTs investigating any strategies to reduce antibiotics vs. immediate antibiotics in adult women with uUTI in primary care.Methods: We extracted individual participant data (IPD) if available, otherwise aggregate data (AD). Bayesian random-effects meta-analysis of the AD was used for pairwise comparisons. Candidate moderators and prognostic indicators of treatment effects were investigated using generalised linear mixed models based on IPD.Results: We analysed IPD of 3524 patients from eight RCTs and AD of 78 patients. Non-antibiotic strategies increased the rates of incomplete recovery (OR 3.0; 95% credible interval (CrI), 1.7–5.5; Bayesian p-value (pB) = 0.0017; τ = 0.6), subsequent antibiotic treatment (OR 3.5; 95% CrI, 2.1–5.8; pB = 0.0003) and pyelonephritis (OR 5.6; 95% CrI, 2.3–13.9; pB = 0.0003). Conversely, they decreased overall antibiotic use by 63%.Patients positive for urinary erythrocytes and urine culture were at increased risk for incomplete recovery (OR 4.7; 95% CrI, 2.1–10.8; pB = 0.0010), but no difference was apparent where both were negative (OR 0.8; 95% CrI, 0.3–2.0; pB = 0.667). In patients treated using non-antibiotic strategies, urinary erythrocytes and positive urine culture were independent prognostic indicators for subsequent antibiotic treatment and pyelonephritis.Conclusions: Compared to immediate antibiotics, non-antibiotic strategies reduce overall antibiotic use but result in poorer clinical outcomes. The presence of erythrocytes and tests to confirm bacteria in urine could be used to target antibiotic prescribing.
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