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. 2004 Sep 28;171(7):721-3.
doi: 10.1503/cmaj.1041275.

Antibiotics for sore throat to prevent rheumatic fever: yes or no? How the Cochrane Library can help

Arne Ohlsson  1 , Kathie Clark
Affiliations

Antibiotics for sore throat to prevent rheumatic fever: yes or no? How the Cochrane Library can help

Arne Ohlsson et al. CMAJ. .
No abstract available

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Figures

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Fig. 2: Forest plot of the outcome “Incidence of acute rheumatic fever within 2 months” with odds ratio as the statistic. Results are displayed as odds ratios (see the “Method box” to the left). The vertical line of 1 (unity) under the heading “Peto Odds Ratio” indicates no difference in outcomes between the treatment and control groups. The point estimate of the effect size for each study is illustrated by a box (the size of the box varies according to the sample size of the trial). The 95% confidence interval (CI) is depicted as a horizontal line on each side of the box. If the horizontal line does not cross 1 (unity), the finding of that study is statistically significant. Each study is assigned a weight, but if there are no outcomes in both the treatment and control groups, no weight is assigned. The diamond at the bottom of the display is the typical (summary) odds ratio and includes the 95% CI (0.30, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.45; p < 0.00001). The diamond is located to the left of 1, which indicates a statistically significant reduction in the adverse outcome. The test for heterogeneity is not significant (p = 0.1628).
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Fig. 1: Opening page of the Cochrane Library, Issue 3, 2004. The screen will look like this after you enter your search terms and click on “The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews” and then “Complete reviews.” The review “Antibiotics for sore throat” has been ticked. The opening page also gives you a link to the Reviewer's Handbook, which is an extensive document of how Cochrane Reviews are conducted and provides detailed information on statistical methods.
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Fig. 3: Forest plot of the outcome “Incidence of acute rheumatic fever within 2 months” with risk difference as the statistic. Same comparison and outcome as in Fig. 2, but in the “Method box” the statistical test has been changed to “risk difference,” and the scale has been changed to “–0.5 to 0.5” to make it easier to visualize the results of individual studies. The vertical line under the heading “Risk difference (fixed)” represents no difference in outcomes between the treatment and control groups (unity is now 0). All studies have now been assigned a weight. The risk difference is –0.01 (95% CI –0.02 to –0.01), p < 0.0001. The test for heterogeneity is statistically significant (p < 0.0001), which indicates that there is study heterogeneity with regard to the effect size.
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References

    1. Del Mar CB, Glasziou PP, Spinks AB. Antibiotics for sore throat [Cochrane review]. In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 3. Chichester (UK): John Wiley and Sons; 2004. - PubMed

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