Table 1 Details of studies comparing short antibiotic treatment with conventional treatment (7–10 days) in patients with acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis and COPD

Reference	Year of publication	Quality score	Concealment	Study size	Mean age of subjects	Outpatients or inpatients	Treatment	Duration(days)	Early follow-up(days)	Late follow-up(days)
Langan45	1998	4	Unknown	684	55.9	Outpatients	Cefuroxime	5	8–10	28–35
					57.1		Claritromycin	7
Lorenz46	1998	4	Unknown	222	56.0	Unknown	Cefixime	5	10–13	27–33
					54.0		Cefixime	10
Langan21	1999	4	Unknown	544	56.8	Outpatients	Grepafloxacin	5	11–13	31–38
					56.3		Grepafloxacin	10
Wasilewski (a)22	1999	5	Adequate	499	52.0	Outpatients	Dirithromycin	5	10–12	17–21
					52.0		Erythromycin	7
Wasilewski (b)22	1999	5	Adequate	558	52.0	Outpatients	Dirithromycin	5	10–12	17–21
					52.0		Erythromycin	7
Wilson47	1999	4	Unknown	750	60.0	Both	Moxifloxacin	5	14	28–35
					60.2		Claritromycin	7
Chodosh19	2000	5	Adequate	614	56.9	Outpatients	Moxifloxacin	5	10–16	17–27
					56.2		Moxifloxacin	10
File48	2000	4	Unknown	600	64.2	Outpatients	Gemifloxacin	5	14–21	28–35
					64.0		Co-amoxiclav	7
Fogarty23	2000	4	Unknown	548	54.0	Unknown	Cefdinir	5	17–21	28–42
					57.0		Cefprozil	10
Paster26	2000	5	Adequate	586	54.0	Outpatients	Cefdinir	5	12–19	26–40
					52.0		Loracerbef	7
Gotfried20	2001	2	Unknown	349	48.0	Outpatients	Gatifloxacin	5	14–21	28–35
					49.0		Gatifloxacin	7
Masterton49	2001	3	Unknown	532	60.7	Outpatients	Levofloxacin	5	14–17	35–42
					59.5		Levofloxacin	7
Aubier50	2002	4	Unknown	325	61.5	Outpatients	Telithromycin	5	17–21	31–36
					66.0		Co-clavulanate	10
Wilson25	2002	3	Unknown	712	58.7	Inpatients	Gemifloxacin	5	14–21	28–35
					58.4		Claritromycin	7
Soler51	2003	3	Unknown	282	60.1	Both	Gatifloxacin	5	11–14	31–38
					61.9		Co-clavulanate	10
Zervos52	2003	5	Adequate	376	50.5	Unknown	Telithromycin	5	17–24	31–45
					57.0		Cefuroxime	10
Sethi53	2004	5	Adequate	360	61.6	Unknown	Gemifloxacin	5	14–21	28–35
					63.4		Levofloxacin	7
Fogarty54	2005	3	Unknown	650	59.5	Outpatients	Telithromycin	5	17–24	31–36
					59.4		Clarithromycin	10
Gotfried24	2005	4	Unknown	485	62.1	Outpatients	Clarithromycin	5	17–21	37–40
					61.6		Clarithromycin	7
Sethi55	2005	4	Unknown	893	60.1	Both	Co-amoxiclav 2000/125	5	14–21	28–35
					60.3		Co-amoxiclav 875/125	7
Alvarez-Sala27	2006	3	Unknown	541	61.1	Unknown	Cefditoren pivoxil	5	10–12	25–35
					61.0		Cefuroxime	10