Identifying Children Likely to Benefit From Antibiotics for Acute Sinusitis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Shaikh N, Hoberman A, Shope TR, et al.  JAMA. 2023;330(4):349–358. 

Key Points

Question  In children aged 2 to 11 years with acute sinusitis, does the efficacy of antibiotic treatment differ based on nasopharyngeal colonization with a bacterial pathogen or by the color of the nasal discharge?

Findings  Children without nasopharyngeal bacterial colonization (28% of all enrolled) benefited significantly less from antibiotic treatment than children colonized with pathogens. The effect of antibiotics did not differ based on the color of the nasal discharge.

Meaning  In children with acute sinusitis, antibiotic treatment had minimal benefit for those without nasopharyngeal bacterial pathogens. The antibiotic effect did not depend on the color of nasal discharge.

Abstract

Importance  The large overlap between symptoms of acute sinusitis and viral upper respiratory tract infection suggests that certain subgroups of children being diagnosed with acute sinusitis, and subsequently treated with antibiotics, derive little benefit from antibiotic use.

Objective  To assess if antibiotic therapy could be appropriately withheld in prespecified subgroups.

Design, Setting, and Participants  Randomized clinical trial including 515 children aged 2 to 11 years diagnosed with acute sinusitis based on clinical criteria. The trial was conducted between February 2016 and April 2022 at primary care offices affiliated with 6 US institutions and was designed to evaluate whether symptom burden differed in subgroups defined by nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, or Moraxella catarrhalis on bacterial culture and by the presence of colored nasal discharge.

Interventions  Oral amoxicillin (90 mg/kg/d) and clavulanate (6.4 mg/kg/d) (n = 254) or placebo (n = 256) for 10 days.

Main Outcomes and Measures  The primary outcome was symptom burden based on daily symptom scores on a validated scale (range, 0-40) during the 10 days after diagnosis. Secondary outcomes included treatment failure, adverse events including clinically significant diarrhea, and resource use by families.

Results  Most of the 510 included children were aged 2 to 5 years (64%), male (54%), White (52%), and not Hispanic (89%). The mean symptom scores were significantly lower in children in the amoxicillin and clavulanate group (9.04 [95% CI, 8.71 to 9.37]) compared with those in the placebo group (10.60 [95% CI, 10.27 to 10.93]) (between-group difference, −1.69 [95% CI, −2.07 to −1.31]). The length of time to symptom resolution was significantly lower for children in the antibiotic group (7.0 days) than in the placebo group (9.0 days) (P = .003). Children without nasopharyngeal pathogens detected did not benefit from antibiotic treatment as much as those with pathogens detected; the between-group difference in mean symptom scores was −0.88 (95% CI, −1.63 to −0.12) in those without pathogens detected compared with −1.95 (95% CI, −2.40 to −1.51) in those with pathogens detected. Efficacy did not differ significantly according to whether colored nasal discharge was present (the between-group difference was −1.62 [95% CI, −2.09 to −1.16] for colored nasal discharge vs −1.70 [95% CI, −2.38 to −1.03] for clear nasal discharge; P = .52 for the interaction between treatment group and the presence of colored nasal discharge).

Conclusions  In children with acute sinusitis, antibiotic treatment had minimal benefit for those without nasopharyngeal bacterial pathogens on presentation, and its effects did not depend on the color of nasal discharge. Testing for specific bacteria on presentation may represent a strategy to reduce antibiotic use in this condition.

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