title: Bronchitis (acute).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute bronchitis affects more than 40 in 1000 adults per year in the UK. The causes are usually considered to be infective, but only around half of people have identifiable pathogens. The role of smoking or of environmental tobacco smoke inhalation in predisposing to acute bronchitis is unclear. One third of people may have longer-term symptoms or recurrence.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a systematic review, aiming to answer the following clinical question: What are the effects of treatments for acute bronchitis in people without chronic respiratory disease? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to May 2015 (Clinical Evidence overviews are updated periodically; please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this overview).
  
  
  RESULTS
  At this update, searching of electronic databases retrieved 420 studies. After deduplication and removal of conference abstracts, 306 records were screened for inclusion in the overview. Appraisal of titles and abstracts led to the exclusion of 245 studies and the further review of 61 full publications. Of the 61 full articles evaluated, three updated systematic reviews and three RCTs were added at this update. We performed a GRADE evaluation for 12 PICO combinations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this systematic review we categorised the efficacy for six intervention-comparison combinations, based on information about the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: antibiotics, antihistamines, antitussives, beta2 agonists (inhaled), and expectorants/mucolytics.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Disease, Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, New Lambton, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wark
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D058666:Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000996:Antitussive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D005100:Expectorants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006633:Histamine Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D058666:Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000996:Antitussive Agents; D005100:Expectorants; D006633:Histamine Antagonists