Long-term low-dose macrolides for chronic rhinosinusitis in adults - a systematic review of the literature.
BACKGROUND
Chronic rhinosinusitis is a very common inflammatory disease that impairs quality of life and is associated with high healthcare spending. Chronic rhinosinusitis treatment commonly involves the use of intranasal corticosteroids, oral antibiotics, and surgery. Macrolides have been identified as a potential treatment option for chronic rhinosinusitis due to their immunomodulatory effects; however, the evidence supporting their use is still conflicting.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate new evidence along with previously reported studies of the use of macrolides in the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis.


METHODS
Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, LILACS, clinicaltrials.gov, and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform were all searched (until June 2015 Medline and EMBASE searches were updated January 2016). Randomised controlled trials comparing low-dose macrolide antibiotics versus placebo, as an adjunct to other therapies, or low-dose macrolide therapy alone versus other therapies were included in this review.


METHODS
Quality of the evidence was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Continuous outcomes were expressed as mean differences or standardised mean differences with 95% confidence interval. Data were pooled using fixed-effects models.


RESULTS
Nine randomised controlled trials met the inclusion criteria. Studies were classified into three distinct comparisons: Low-dose macrolide therapy vs. placebo, low-dose macrolide +/- nasal steroids vs. nasal steroid and low-dose macrolides vs. other therapies. The overall quality of the evidence is low due to limitations in study design, imprecision, and indirectness.


CONCLUSIONS
Positive results were seen with the use of macrolide therapy in the postoperative period in patients with nasal polyps. A firm conclusion with respect to the effectiveness of the use of macrolides for the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis cannot be reached based on the available evidence. Further study using a placebo-controlled design evaluating the use of macrolides in clearly defined chronic rhinosinusitis populations is needed.
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
A
A
Lasso
Faculty of Medicine, The University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
P
P
Masoudian
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
J G
JG
Quinn
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
J
J
Cowan
Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
V
V
Labajian
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.|Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
J P
JP
Bonaparte
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.|Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
S
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1857-7628
S
Kilty
D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D018942:Macrolides / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012220:Rhinitis / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012852:Sinusitis / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D018942:Macrolides