Antibiotics for acute laryngitis in adults
Ludovic Reveiz1, Andrés Felipe Cardona
1Research Promotion and Development Team, Health Systems Based on Primary Health Care (HSS), Pan American Health Organization,Washington DC, USA. mmreveiz@hotmail.com
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
|April 2, 2013
Summary
Antibiotics do not improve acute laryngitis symptoms. While erythromycin may subjectively reduce voice issues, this benefit is not clinically significant, suggesting antibiotics should not be a first-line treatment.
Area of Science:
- Otolaryngology
- Infectious Diseases
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Acute laryngitis is a prevalent global condition.
- Diagnosis is typically based on patient history.
- Treatment often focuses on symptom management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy and safety of antibiotic therapies for acute laryngitis in adults.
- To document adverse event rates associated with antibiotic treatments.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
- Searched multiple databases including CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, and BIOSIS.
- Included RCTs comparing antibiotics with placebo for acute laryngitis, with objective voice scores as the primary outcome.
Main Results:
- Two trials involving 206 adults met inclusion criteria.
- Penicillin V showed no significant difference compared to placebo in objective voice scores or reported symptoms.
- Erythromycin did not significantly improve objective voice scores but showed subjective benefits in voice disturbance and cough, with a NNTB of 4.5 for subjective voice improvement.
Conclusions:
- Antibiotics offer no objective benefit for acute laryngitis.
- Subjective improvements with erythromycin are not considered clinically relevant.
- Prescribing antibiotics for acute laryngitis is not recommended as a primary approach.
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