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Inhaled anti‐pseudomonal antibiotics for long‐term therapy in cystic fibrosis

Overview of attention for article published in Cochrane database of systematic reviews, March 2018
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
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Title
Inhaled anti‐pseudomonal antibiotics for long‐term therapy in cystic fibrosis
Published in
Cochrane database of systematic reviews, March 2018
DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd001021.pub3
Pubmed ID
Authors

Sherie Smith, Nicola J Rowbotham, Kate H Regan

Abstract

Inhaled antibiotics are commonly used to treat persistent airway infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa that contributes to lung damage in people with cystic fibrosis. Current guidelines recommend inhaled tobramycin for individuals with cystic fibrosis and persistent Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection who are aged six years or older. The aim is to reduce bacterial load in the lungs so as to reduce inflammation and deterioration of lung function. This is an update of a previously published review. To evaluate the effects long-term inhaled antibiotic therapy in people with cystic fibrosis on clinical outcomes (lung function, frequency of exacerbations and nutrition), quality of life and adverse events (including drug sensitivity reactions and survival). We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis Trials Register, compiled from electronic database searches and handsearching of journals and conference abstract books. We also searched ongoing trials registries.Date of last search: 13 February 2018. We selected trials if inhaled anti-pseudomonal antibiotic treatment was used for at least three months in people with cystic fibrosis, treatment allocation was randomised or quasi-randomised, and there was a control group (either placebo, no placebo or another inhaled antibiotic). Two authors independently selected trials, judged the risk of bias, extracted data from these trials and judged the quality of the evidence using the GRADE system. The searches identified 333 citations to 98 trials; 18 trials (3042 participants aged between five and 56 years) met the inclusion criteria. Limited data were available for meta-analyses due to the variability of trial design and reporting of results. A total of 11 trials (1130 participants) compared an inhaled antibiotic to placebo or usual treatment for a duration between three and 33 months. Five trials (1255 participants) compared different antibiotics, two trials (585 participants) compared different regimens of tobramycin and one trial (90 participants) compared intermittent tobramycin with continuous tobramycin alternating with aztreonam. One of the trials (18 participants) compared to placebo and a different antibiotic and so fell into both groups. The most commonly studied antibiotic was tobramycin which was studied in 12 trials.We found limited evidence that inhaled antibiotics improved lung function (four of the 11 placebo-controlled trials, n = 814). Compared to placebo, inhaled antibiotics also reduced the frequency of exacerbations (three trials, n = 946), risk ratio 0.66 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.47 to 0.93). There were insufficient data for us to be able to report an effect on nutritional outcomes or survival and there were insufficient data for us to ascertain the effect on quality of life. There was no significant effect on antibiotic resistance seen in the two trials that were included in meta-analyses. Tinnitus and voice alteration were the only adverse events significantly more common in the inhaled antibiotics group. The overall quality of evidence was deemed to be low for most outcomes due to risk of bias within the trials and imprecision due to low event rates.Of the eight trials that compared different inhaled antibiotics or different antibiotic regimens, there was only one trial in each comparison. Forced expiratory volume at one second (FEV1) % predicted was only found to be significantly improved with aztreonam lysine for inhalation compared to tobramycin (n = 273), mean difference -3.40% (95% CI -6.63 to -0.17). However, the method of defining the endpoint was different to the remaining trials and the participants were exposed to tobramycin for a long period making interpretation of the results problematic. No significant differences were found in the remaining comparisons with regard to lung function. Pulmonary exacerbations were measured in different ways, but one trial (n = 273) found that the number of people treated with antibiotics was lower in those receiving aztreonam than tobramycin, risk ratio 0.66 (95% CI 0.51 to 0.86). We found the quality of evidence for these comparisons to be directly related to the risk of bias within the individual trials and varied from low to high. Inhaled anti-pseudomonal antibiotic treatment probably improves lung function and reduces exacerbation rate, but pooled estimates of the level of benefit were very limited. The best evidence is for inhaled tobramycin. More evidence from trials measuring similar outcomes in the same way is needed to determine a better measure of benefit. Longer-term trials are needed to look at the effect of inhaled antibiotics on quality of life, survival and nutritional outcomes.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 181 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 <1%
Unknown 180 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 29 16%
Student > Bachelor 20 11%
Researcher 19 10%
Student > Ph. D. Student 16 9%
Other 8 4%
Other 20 11%
Unknown 69 38%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 41 23%
Nursing and Health Professions 14 8%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 12 7%
Psychology 8 4%
Social Sciences 7 4%
Other 26 14%
Unknown 73 40%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 13. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 May 2018.
All research outputs
#2,871,303
of 25,461,852 outputs
Outputs from Cochrane database of systematic reviews
#5,574
of 12,090 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#58,418
of 343,897 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Cochrane database of systematic reviews
#110
of 162 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,461,852 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 88th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 12,090 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 38.2. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 55% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 343,897 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 162 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 32nd percentile – i.e., 32% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.