Clinical outcomes of stable patients with bronchiectasis who received antibiotics versus placebo
| Outcome | Number of studies | Patients (n) | Effect size | 95% CI | I² (%) | P value (interaction) |
| Patients with exacerbations* | ||||||
| Total | 13 | 1466 | 0.76 | 0.65 to 0.89 | 58.4 | |
| Adult studies | 9† | 1187 | 0.75 | 0.62 to 0.92 | 67.4 | 0.26 |
| Paediatric studies | 3† | 157 | 0.86 | 0.73 to 1.01 | 0 | |
| Route of administration (inhaled) | 4 | 791 | 0.82 | 0.60 to 1.10 | 64.8 | 0.53 |
| Route of administration (oral) | 9 | 604 | 0.72 | 0.58 to 0.88 | 68.6 | |
| Type of antibiotic (oral macrolides) | 7 | 444 | 0.69 | 0.53 to 0.91 | 69.5 | 0.84 |
| Type of antibiotic (oral non-macrolides) | 2 | 160 | 0.76 | 0.41 to 1.40 | 80.5 | |
| Exacerbations (mean)‡ | ||||||
| Total | 14 | 1196 | 0.62 | 0. 49 to 0.78 | 81.1 | |
| Adult studies | 11† | 603 | 0.55 | 0.40 to 0.75 | 83.4 | 0.63 |
| Paediatric studies | 2† | 132 | 0.67 | 0.37 to 1.22 | 78 | |
| Route of administration (inhaled) | 5 | 826 | 0.67 | 0.44 to 1.02 | 81.9 | 0.68 |
| Route of administration (oral) | 8 | 653 | 0.47 | 0.38 to 0.59 | 31.9 | |
| Type of antibiotic (oral macrolides) | 7 | 520 | 0.49 | 0.39 to 0.55 | 28.4 | 0.76 |
| Type of antibiotic (oral non-macrolides)§ | 1 | 38 | 0.29 | 0.14 to 0.55§ | – | |
| Pseudomonas aeruginosa | 3 | 189 | 0.70 | 0.44 to 1.12 | 0 | – |
| Mortality* | ||||||
| Total | 6 | 916 | 1.25 | 0.49 to 3.18 | 0 | – |
| Number of hospitalisation‡ | ||||||
| Total | 5 | 805 | 0.51 | 0.22 to 1.13 | 45.2 | – |
*Relative risk.
†Drake and Knowelden28 enrolled undifferentiated mixed population; therefore, it was excluded from this subgroup analysis.
‡Incidence rate ratio.
§Unadjusted; Currie et al 18reported no statistical significance after adjustment to frequency of exacerbations reported in the prior year to enrolment.