Long-term low-dose macrolides for Chronic Rhinosinusitis in adults – a systematic review of the literature

Abstract

Background

Chronic Rhinosinusitis is a very common inflammatory disease that impairs quality of life and is associated with high healthcare spending. Chronic rhinosinusitis treatment commonly involves the use of intranasal corticosteroids, oral antibiotics and surgery. Macrolides have been identified as a potential treatment option for chronic rhinosinusitis due to their immunomodulatory effects; however the evidence supporting their use is still conflicting.

Objective

The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate new evidence along with previously reported studies of the use of macrolides in the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis.

Search strategy

Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, LILACS, clinicaltrials. gov and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform were all searched (until June 2015 Medline and EMBASE searches were updated January 2016). Randomized controlled trials comparing low dose macrolide antibiotics versus placebo, as an adjunct to other therapies or, low dose macrolide therapy alone versus other therapies were included in this review.

Evaluation method

Quality of the evidence was evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Continuous outcomes were expressed as mean differences or standardized mean differences with 95% confidence interval. Data were pooled using fixed effects models.

Results

Nine randomized controlled trials met the inclusion criteria. Studies were classified into three distinct comparisons: Low dose macrolide therapy vs. placebo, low dose macrolide +/- nasal steroids vs. nasal steroid and low dose macrolides vs other therapies. The overall quality of the evidence is low due to limitations in study design, imprecision, and indirectness.

Conclusions

Positive results were seen with the use of macrolide therapy in the post-operative period in patients with nasal polyps. A firm conclusion in respect to the effectiveness of the use of macrolides for the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis cannot be reached based on the available evidence. Further study using a placebo controlled design evaluating the use of macrolides in clearly defined chronic rhinosinusitis populations is needed.

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