Attendere prima di usare l’antibiotico nelle infezioni delle vie respiratorie pediatriche non peggiora la prognosi e riduce il consumo di farmaci non necessari: i risultati di un RCT

Waiting before using the antibiotic in pediatric respiratory tract infections does not worsen the prognosis and reduces the consumption of unnecessary drugs: the results of an RCT The prescription of antibiotics in pediatric age is high and could be reduced as respiratory diseases often do not require pharmacological intervention. This pragmatic study carried out in primary care in Spain compared three intervention arms: delayed antibiotic prescription, immediate or no prescription; the 30-day follow-up revealed no differences in the duration of the disease or in the severity of symptoms in the three groups of children. Despite the good methodological quality, the RCT could be affected by a significant selection bias; nevertheless, several other studies on the subject lead to similar results.