Antibiotics Not Effective Against Sinusitis

Antibiotics offer results no better than placebos in cases of rhinosinusitis, a new study found. 

In a randomized study of 166 adults with acute rhinosinusitis, those given antibiotics showed no greater improvement than those taking placebos after 3 days of treatment, said Jay Piccirillo, MD, of Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues. 

"It provides further evidence for what we've really suspected for a long time -- that in the management of patients with acute sinusitis, antibiotics do not convey any additional benefit," Piccirillo said.

After 7 days, those taking the antibiotics showed improvement in symptoms, although the results were “too small to represent any clinically meaningful important change.”

Piccirillo concluded that the findings support recommendations against using routine antibiotics in patients with rhinosinusitis, saying, "There is now a considerable body of evidence from clinical trials conducted in the primary care setting that antibiotics provide little if any benefit for patients with clinically diagnosed acute rhinosinusitis,"

-Michael Potts