Akova 1993.
| Methods | Randomized controlled trial Duration: March 1989 and March 1992 |
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| Participants | Number: 61 patients enrolled [3 in DR group and 3 in OR group were excluded from this review due to spondylitis] Inclusion criteria:a standard tube agglutination titer of 1/160 or more for anti‐Brucella antibodies in the presence of compatible clinical findings (fever, night sweats, arthralgia, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy) or isolation of a Brucella sp. from blood or bone marrow cultures. Exclusion criteria: endocarditis or neurobrucellosis. Individuals who received antimicrobial therapy prior to the study, pregnant women, and patients allergic to any of the drugs employed in the regimens |
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| Interventions | 1‐ 200 mg of doxycycline plus 600 mg of rifampicin per day for a total of 6 weeks. All medications were administered once daily. 2‐ 400 mg of ofloxacin plus 600 mg of rifampicin per day for a total of 6 weeks. All medications were administered once daily. |
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| Outcomes | 1‐relapse 2‐therapeutic failure 3‐advers drug reactions 4‐time to defervescence |
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| Notes | Location: Hacettepe University hospital, Turkey Setting: hospitalised patients Source of funding: not mentioned |
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| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Not described |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) | High risk | The patients were then randomized in a non blinded fashion. |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes | High risk | Open study |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | High risk | 30 randomized to doxycycline plus rifampicin, 31 to ofloxacin plus rifampicin. No information was provided about the numbers at follow‐up. Not all patients followed for one year. Mean follow up (SD) in DR and DS groups were 14.2(5.6) and 15.1(5.9) months respectively. The reasons were not described. The proportion of missing outcomes compared with observed event was considerable. |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Low risk | Important outcomes are reported |
| Other bias | Low risk | |