section name header

Evidence summaries

Antibiotics for Secondary Prevention of Coronary Disease

Macrolide antibiotics appear not to reduce cardiac events or mortality in patients with ischaemic heart disease. Level of evidence: "B"

A systematic review 1 including 9 studies with a total of 11,015 subjects was abstracted in DARE. Patients receiving macrolide antibiotics showed no statistically significant reduction in cardiac events or mortality relative to those on placebo; the relative risks were 0.94 (95% CI: 0.86 to 1.03) and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.79 to 1.12) for cardiac events and mortality, respectively.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by the results being (statistically nonsignificantly) in favour of antibiotics.

References

Primary/Secondary Keywords