Ref (type)	Population	Outcome, Interventions	Results and statistical analysis	Effect size	Favours
Clinical cure rate
Systematic review	936 people with otitis externa 3 RCTs in this analysis	Clinical cure rate 14 to 28 days with topical quinolone antibiotics with topical non-quinolone antibiotics Absolute results not reported	Absolute rate difference 0.04 95% CI –0.01 to +0.08 P = 0.145 Only one RCT included in the meta-analysis compared topical quinolone alone versus topical non-quinolone alone, which may affect the generalisability of these results (see further information on studies for more details)		Not significant
RCT	601 people with any severity of acute diffuse otitis externa on otoscopy in a primary-care setting	Clinical cure rate 1 month 215/242 (89%) with ofloxacin 206/232 (89%) with neomycin–hydrocortisone–polymyxin B drops	P = 0.86		Not significant
Microbiological cure rate
RCT	601 people with any severity of acute diffuse otitis externa on otoscopy in a primary-care setting	Microbiological cure rate 1 month 85/93 (91%) with ofloxacin 97/103 (94%) with neomycin–hydrocortisone–polymyxin B drops	P = 0.77		Not significant
Resolution
RCT	55 people with moderate–severe acute or chronic diffuse otitis externa on otoscopy, in a secondary-care setting	Resolution 1 month or until resolution of all symptoms and signs 27/34 (79%) with triamcinolone–neomycin 10/21 (48%) with hydrocortisone–neomycin–polymyxin B	P <0.01	Effect size not calculated	triamcinolone–neomycin