Table 2.
Illness presentation of randomised participants
| Placebo group (n=211) | Antibiotics group (n=221) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline severity* | 1·6 (0·3) | 1·6 (0·3) | |
| Cough severity | 1·9 (1·1) | 2·0 (1·1) | |
| Duration of symptoms rated moderately bad or worse, days | 6 (3–10) | 5 (3–10) | |
| Prespecified subgroups | |||
| Abnormal chest signs† | 72 (34%) | 78 (35%) | |
| Sputum or chest rattle | 155/210 (74%) | 170/219 (78%) | |
| Fever during illness | 161 (76%) | 177 (80%) | |
| Unwell according to physician‡ | 141 (67%) | 143 (65%) | |
| Shortness of breath | 95 (45%) | 104 (47%) | |
| Oxygen saturation low (<95%) | 9/166 (5%) | 13/170 (8%) | |
| STARWAVe40§ | |||
| Very low risk | 110 (52%) | 123 (56%) | |
| Normal risk | 95 (45%) | 94 (43%) | |
| High risk | 6 (3%) | 4 (2%) | |
| Physician rating of unwell¶ | 5·5 (1·7) | 5·5 (1·6) | |
| Parent rating of unwell¶ | 3·8 (1·7) | 3·7 (1·7) | |
| Temperature, °C, mean (SD; n) | 37·3 (0·8; n=208) | 37·2 (0·8; n=220) | |
| Oxygen saturation, %, mean (SD; n) | 97·3 (1·6; n=166) | 97·3 (1·6; n=170) | |
| Heart rate, beats per min, mean (SD; n) | 112·0 (20·3; n=207) | 111·8 (17·9; n=213) | |
| Respiratory rate, breaths per min, mean (SD; n) | 24·8 (6·8; n=198) | 25·4 (7·1; n=213) | |
| Tachypnoea | 25/198 (13%) | 30/213 (14%) | |
| Capillary refill >3 s | 3 (1%) | 2 (1%) | |
| Consciousness‖ | |||
| Normal | 203 (96%) | 214 (97%) | |
| Irritable | 8 (4%) | 5 (2%) | |
| Drowsy | 0 | 1 (<1%) | |
| Ill appearance | 48 (23%) | 47 (21%) | |
| Number of days unwell before seeing general practitioner, median (IQR; n) | 5 (3–9; n=108) | 5 (3–7; n=119) | |
| Treated with over-the-counter medication | 105/111 (95%) | 107/121 (88%) | |
Data are mean (SD), median (IQR), n (%), or n/N (%), unless otherwise specified.
*
Scale of 1–4 as follows: 1=none, 2=mild, 3=moderate, and 4=severe.
†
Includes wheeze, stridor, grunting, nasal flaring, intercostal or subcostal recession, crackles or crepitations, and bronchial breathing.
‡
Dichotomised at ≥5.
§
STARWAVe prediction rule for hospital admission (short illness, temperature, age, recession, wheeze, asthma, and vomiting).
¶
Scale of 0–10.
‖
Data missing for one person in the antibiotics group.