Antibiotics compared with placebo or no treatment for persistent respiratory symptoms following acute bronchiolitis

Patient or population: children < 24 months with persistent respiratory symptoms following acute bronchiolitis
Setting: post‐acute bronchiolitis phase > 14 days
Intervention: antibiotics^
Comparison: placebo or no treatment^

Number of participants who were not cured at follow‐up
Follow‐up: 6 months

OR 0.69
(0.37 to 1.28)

249
(2 RCTs)

⊕⊕⊝⊝
LOW^a

Number of participants rehospitalised for a respiratory illness
Follow‐up: 6 months

OR 1.19
(0.67 to 2.12)

240
(2 RCTs)

⊕⊕⊝⊝
LOW^a

Proportion of participants with recurrent wheeze
Follow‐up: 6 months

OR 0.47

(0.06 to 3.95)

240
(2 RCTs)

⊕⊕⊝⊝
LOW^a

^Intervention/Comparison group: treatment initiated during child's hospitalisation for acute bronchiolitis

*The risk in the intervention group (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI)
CI: confidence interval; OR: odds ratio

We used GRADEPro software to create this table (GRADEpro GDT 2015)

GRADE Working Group grades of evidence
High quality: We are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect
Moderate quality: We are moderately confident in the effect estimate: The true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different
Low quality: Our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: The true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect
Very low quality: We have very little confidence in the effect estimate: The true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect