A commonly used antibiotic makes no difference to people who suffer from coughs, according to the findings of a major European study revealed today.
Doctors sometimes prescribe amoxicillin to patients in case a cough has a bacterial cause – although most are caused by viruses.
But today’s findings show there is hardly any overall effect from prescribing the drug.
Researchers said unnecessary prescription of the drug could be harmful to patients as well as helping the spread of drug resistance.
The findings, reported in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, come from a study of more than 2,000 patients in 12 European countries.
The patients suffered from what are known as lower respiratory tract infections without any other complications. Half the patients were given antibiotic and half were given placebo medicines.
Researchers found that taking antibiotics made a small difference in preventing symptoms worsening. This happened to 19% of those taking placebos compared with 16% of those taking antibiotics.
In contrast a similar proportion of patients prescribed the real drug suffered from side-effects such as sickness, rash and diarrhoea. 24% of those on placebo reported these compared with 28.7% of those on antibiotics.
Out of the 2,000 patients just three ended up in hospital – two of those taking placebos and one taking antibiotics.
The researchers say it is possible a small number of patients may benefit from antibiotics – but doctors need to find better ways of identifying them.
Researcher Professor Paul Little, from Southampton University, UK, said today: "Using amoxicillin to treat respiratory infections in patients not suspected of having pneumonia is not likely to help and could be harmful.
"Overuse of antibiotics (which is dominated by primary care prescribing), particularly when they are ineffective, can lead to side effects (for example diarrhoea, rash, vomiting) and the development of resistance."
Writing in the journal Dr Philipp Schuetz, from the Kantonsspital Aarau, Switzerland, says: "Guidance from measurements of specific blood biomarkers of bacterial infection might help to identify the few individuals who will benefit from antibiotics despite the apparent absence of pneumonia and avoid the toxic effects and costs of those drugs and the development of resistance in other patients."
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