Table 3.

Meta-analysis of data from individual patients. Effect of combination of topical and systemic antibiotics as prophylaxis for respiratory tract infections in patients in intensive care

APACHE II scores	No of studies	No treated	No of controls	Odds ratio (95% CI)
Medical patients
0-14	10	10/67	23/76	0.37 (0.16 to 0.87)
15-29	10	14/155	53/180	0.28 (0.16 to 0.48)
⩾30	10	7/54	12/52	0.57 (0.20 to 1.69)
Total		31/276	88/308	0.33 (0.22 to 0.51)
Surgical patients
0-14	9	15/166	24/142	0.47 (0.23 to 0.94)
15-29	9	36/299	70/309	0.51 (0.33 to 0.78)
⩾30	9	4/22	6/26	0.87 (0.21 to 3.64)
Total		55/487	100/477	0.51 (0.36 to 0.73)
Trauma patients
0-14	11	54/269	116/294	0.40 (0.28 to 0.58)
15-29	12	59/258	108/249	0.37 (0.25 to 0.54)
⩾30	12	5/13	4/10	0.07 (0.01 to 1.63)
Total		118/540	228/553	0.38 (0.29 to 0.50)
Overall		204/1303	476/1338	0.40 (0.33 to 0.49)