Table 4.

Meta-analysis of data from individual patients. Effect of topical 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	8	11/108	17/117	0.75 (0.34 to 1.67)
15-29	8	17/205	43/232	0.44 (0.25 to 0.77)
⩾30	9	1/29	4/23	1.03 (0.06 to 16.69)
Total		29/342	64/372	0.54 (0.34 to 0.84)
Surgical patients
0-14	8	8/48	13/57	0.52 (0.17 to 1.53)
15-29	9	15/64	17/63	0.84 (0.35 to 1.99)
⩾30	9	3/6	0/4	12.18 (0.55 to 270.15)
Total		26/118	30/124	0.79 (0.41 to 1.53)
Trauma patients
0-14	12	52/238	103/303	0.59 (0.40 to 0.88)
15-29	11	77/231	148/312	0.59 (0.41 to 0.85)
⩾30	12	4/8	6/12	5.29 (0.31 to 89.62)
Total		133/477	257/627	0.60 (0.46 to 0.79)
Overall		188/937	351/1123	0.61 (0.49 to 0.75)