September 23, 1998 – The objective of this study, published in 1997 in the British Medical Journal, was to determine the effects of antibiotics in the treatment of otitis media in children.
To do this, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis of the findings of double-blind medical research on the effects of using antibiotics in the treatment of otitis media. Six studies involving children from 7 months to 15 years old and meeting the most rigorous methodological criteria were selected, and their results compiled.
The observations are surprising: 60% of children treated with a placebo no longer had any pain after 24 hours, without any antibiotic treatment. However, between 2 and 7 days after the onset of the seizure, a period after which only 14% of children in the control groups still felt pain, the use of antibiotics reduced the risk of pain by 41% and reduced the risk of pain by 41%. 43% acute contrelateral otitis.
Antibiotic use was not associated with any reduction in the risk of another seizure or hearing loss after one month, but seemed to indicate a tendency to prevent deafness after three months. On the other hand, the use of antibiotics doubled the risk of vomiting, diarrhea and itching.
The researchers’ conclusions are that the rapid use of antibiotics has only a very small effect on otitis media. In fact, to prevent 1 child from feeling pain between 2 and 7 days after the onset of otitis, 17 children must be treated with antibiotics. According to them, it would be important to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative and complementary approaches because conventional therapies do not really demonstrate great effectiveness. Even more, they say, this leads to overuse and increased resistance to antibiotics.
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Del Mar C, Glasziou P, Hayem M., Are antibiotics indicated as initial treatment for children with acute otitis media? A meta-analysis. BMJ. 1997; 314; 1526-1529
Source: Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, September 1998, vol 4, no 5, p. 86
