Ear infections and antibiotics
A recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association carried an interesting article on the use of antibiotics for acute otitis media (AOM) or middle-ear infection. The reference is: Tumaini R. Coker et al “Diagnosis, Microbial Epidemiology, and Antibiotic Treatment of Acute Otitis Media in Children” - A Systematic Review, in Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 304, No. 19, November 17, 2010, pp. 2161-2169. The objective of the study was to perform a systematic review on AOM diagnosis and treatment with antibiotics. The study selected studies with a criterion standard, observational studies, randomized controlled trials on AOM microbiology and randomized controlled trials assessing antibiotic treatment. The conclusion of the study was that antibiotics are modestly more effective than no treatment but cause adverse effects in 4% to 10% of children. Therefore, giving children antibiotics for ear infections does little to speed their recovery while raising the ri...