Ref (type)	Population	Outcome, Interventions	Results and statistical analysis	Effect size	Favours
Symptoms of AOM
Systematic review	741 children aged <2 years 4 RCTs in this analysis	Symptomatic improvement 7 days 357/416 (86%) with antibiotics 277/325 (85%) with placebo alone or versus placebo plus myringotomy	OR 1.31 (weighted OR, Mantel–Haenszel) 95% CI 0.83 to 2.08		Not significant
Systematic review	2791 children aged 6 months to 15 years 9 RCTs in this analysis	Pain 2 to 7 days 228/1425 (16%) with erythromycin, penicillins, sulphonamides 303/1366 (22%) with placebo	ARR 6% 95% CI 4% to 9% RR 0.72 95% CI 0.19 to 0.40 P <0.001 NNT 16 95% CI 11 to 25	Small effect size	antibiotics
Systematic review	1229 children aged 6 months to 15 years 4 RCTs in this analysis	Pain outcomes 24 hours 223/624 (36%) with antibiotics 241/605 (40%) with placebo	RR 0.90 95% CI 0.78 to 1.04		Not significant
Systematic review	273 children <2 years with bilateral AOM 6 RCTs in this analysis Subgroup analysis	Pain, fever, or both 3 to 7 days 42/140 (30%) with antibiotics 74/133 (55%) with placebo	RR 0.64 95% CI 0.62 to 0.80 The differences for children aged <2 years with unilateral AOM and in children >2 years with unilateral or bilateral AOM were not significant	Small effect size	antibiotics
Systematic review	116 children aged 6 months to 12 years presenting with otorrhoea 6 RCTs in this analysis Subgroup analysis	Pain, fever, or both 3 to 7 days 12/50 (24%) with antibiotics 39/66 (60%) with placebo	RR 0.52 95% CI 0.37 to 0.73 P = 0.04	Small effect size	antibiotics