Association between antibiotic prescription and complications in those aged ≤20 years and >20 years
| Patients aged ≤20 years | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complication | Complications, n | Incidencea (95% CI) | OR (95% CI) | NNT (95% CI) | ||||
| Total | On antibiotics | No antibiotics | Overall incidence | On antibiotics | No antibiotics | |||
| Acute mastoiditis following AOM | 81 | 61 | 20 | 3.74 (3.01 to 4.65) | 3.23 (2.52 to 4.15) | 7.23 (4.68 to 11.16) | 0.45 (0.27 to 0.74) | 2504 (1251–7776) |
| Brain abscess following AS | 0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Orbital cellulitis following AS | 13 | 8 | 5 | 4.94 (2.89 to 8.46) | 3.41 (1.73 to 6.72) | 17.88 (7.64 to 41.78) | 0.19 (0.06 to 0.58) | 691 (260–2695) |
| Patients aged >20 years | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complication | Number of complications | Incidencea (95% CI) | OR (95% CI) | NNT (95% CI) | ||||
| Total | On antibiotics | No antibiotics | Overall incidence | On antibiotics | No antibiotics | |||
| Acute mastoiditis following AOM | 80 | 64 | 16 | 11.41 (9.17 to 14.19) | 10.61 (8.31 to 13.55) | 16.31 (10.04 to 26.48) | 0.65 (0.37 to 1.13) | N/A |
| Brain abscess following AS | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0.12 (0.11 to 0.13) | 0.08 (0.07 to 0.09) | 0.62 (0.54 to 0.72) | 0.13 (0.02 to 0.75) | 18 319 (4549–146 666) |
| Orbital cellulitis following AS | 53 | 49 | 4 | 1.28 (1.17 to 1.39) | 1.28 (1.17 to 1.40) | 1.25 (1.13 to 1.38) | 1.02 (0.37 to 2.84) | N/A |
↵a Per 10 000 AOM/AS primary care consultations. AOM = acute otitis media. AS = acute sinusitis. CI = confidence interval. N/A = not applicable. NNT = numbers needed to treat.
OR = odds ratio.