Table 1.

Treatment of upper respiratory infection

Treatment	Benefit	Data	Level of evidence [reference]
Antibiotics	Not likely beneficial		Aa[9]
Decongestants	May be beneficial	Compared with placebo, a single dose of an oral or topical decongestant produced a significant 13% reduction in subjective symptoms	Aa[27]
		There was no benefit from repeated use over several days
		There are limited data to support its use in children
Antihistamine	May be beneficial	Reduced the symptoms of runny nose and sneezing for the first 2 d of colds	Aa[10]
Vitamin C	Unknown effectiveness	1 g daily or more produces about 15% fewer symptomatic days per episode	Bb[11]
Zinc	Unknown effectiveness	May reduce duration of cold symptoms at 7 d compared with placebo	Bb[12]
		Two randomized controlled trials found that zinc intranasal gel reduced the mean duration of cold symptoms compared with placebo
Echinacea	Unknown effectiveness	Some preparations of Echinacea may be better than placebo for cold treatment	Bb[13]
Steam	Unknown effectiveness	Conflicting evidence of the efficacy of steam inhalation at 40°–47°C in the reduction of cold symptoms	Bb[14]

^aLevel A is consistent, good-quality patient-oriented evidence (SORT evidence rating system).

^bLevel B is inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence (SORT evidence rating system).