Table 2

Safety 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)
Bacterial resistance*
Total	7	444	1.68	0.70 to 4.07	60.6
Route of administration (inhaled)	3	87	1.03	0.23 to 4.70	43.1	0.11
Route of administration (oral)	4	357	2.31	0.65 to 8.19	75	0.11
Type of antibiotic (oral macrolides)	3	319	2.23	0.049 to 10.15	82.2	0.71
Type of antibiotic (oral non-macrolides)	1	38	3	0.34 to 26.33	–	0.71
Bronchospasm*
Total	7	861	2.07	1.06 to 4.01	0
Adult patients+inhaled antibiotics studies	7	861	2.07	1.06 to 4.01	0
FEV₁ (L)†
Total	7	500	0.02	0.00 to 0.04	0
Route of administration (inhaled)	3	201	0.04	−0.02 to 0.09	0	0.47
Route of administration (oral macrolides)	4	299	0.02	0.00 to 0.04	0	0.47
FEV₁ (predicted, %)†
Total	9	674	−0.10	−0.22 to 0.01	0
Route of administration (inhaled)	4	259	0.16	−1.65 to 1.96	55.1	0.26
Route of administration (oral macrolides)	5	415	0.15	−1.68 to 1.96	0	0.26
FVC (predicted, %)†
Total	6	344	−1.21	−4.19 to 1.78	98.1
Route of administration (inhaled)	3	130	−3.85	−5.02 to 2.67	10.7	0.000002
Route of administration (oral macrolides)	3	214	0.23	−1.78 to 2.24	8.2	0.000002
Diarrhoea*
Total	5	401	3.04	1.63 to 5.68	0
Type of antibiotic (oral macrolides)	3	241	4.23	1.72 to 10.38	0	0.36
Type of antibiotic (oral non-macrolides)	2	160	1.67	0.45 to 6.19	0	0.36
Nausea*
Total	4	385	1.07	0.58 to 1.97	0
Withdrawal due to toxicity or AE*
Total	12	1324	2.47	1.29 to 4.71	0
Route of administration (inhaled)	7	861	2.89	1.23 to 6.76	0	0.21
Route of administration (oral)	5	463	1.06	0.29 to 3.81	0	0.21
Type of antibiotic (oral macrolides)	3	347	0.80	0.17 to 3.72	0	0.79
Type of antibiotic (oral non-macrolides)	2	86	2	0.20 to 20.24	–	0.79

*Relative risk.
†Weighted mean difference.
AE, adverse event; FEV₁, forced expiratory volume in 1 s; FVC, forced vital capacity.