Abstract

Temesgen Negassa*, Dinka Dugassa, Busha Gamachu, Firomsa Bekele and Chaltu Hinkosa

ABSTRACT

Background: Pneumonia is the leading cause of mortality in children. In developing countries, pneumonia is usually caused by bacterial pathogens. The early administration of empirical antibiotics improves the patients' clinical outcomes. There are currently no systematic reviews of clinical trials on this subject. Objectives: To identify effective antibiotic drug therapy for community acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children by comparing various antibiotics. Methods and analysis: Two reviewers will search and extract data from the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE, EMBASE, Ovid, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and Web of Science electronic databases. Interventional studies published between 1 July 2013 and December 2023, involving pediatric patients with community acquired pneumonia will be eligible. Data abstraction disagreements will be resolved by consensus with a third reviewer, while percentage agreement computed with kappa statistics. TSR will be computed with Metaprop, a Stata command for pooling proportions using DerSimonian and Laird random effects model and presented in a forest plot with corresponding 95% CIs. Heterogeneity between included studies will be assessed with Cochran’s Q test and quantified with I-squared values. Publication bias will be evaluated with funnel plots and tested with Egger’s weighted regression. Time trends in TSR will be calculated with cumulative meta-analysis. Selection criteria: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in children of either sex, which will compare at least two antibiotics for CAP in hospital or ambulatory settings. Ethics and dissemination: No ethical approval will be needed because data from previous published studies in which informed consent was obtained by primary investigators will be retrieved and analysed. We will prepare a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and present the results at conferences. PROSPERO registration number.

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