I have recently been diagnosed with pneumonia.
How long do I have to take medicine for?
(soft music)
That is a really good question
and exactly what we want to find out with our study.
We conducted a randomized
clinical trial and follow-up study with 280 children
ages six months to 10 years old who came
to the emergency department with fever, trouble breathing,
and got the primary diagnosis of pneumonia.
The study took place at two locations:
McMaster Children's Hospital and right here at CHEO.
Half the children in the study received five days of high dose amoxicillin
an antibiotic, followed by five days of a placebo
a sort of phony medicine that we use in research.
The rest of the children received a full 10 days
of high dose amoxicillin.
We ask caregivers to keep a daily diary documenting things
like temperature, breathing symptoms and
a number of other interesting findings.
We also did follow up by phone and
in person over the next 21 days.
What our study found was that children who received
only five days of amoxicillin recovered just as well
as those who took a full 10 days.
Our discovery means that doctors can consider
recommending five days of antibiotics instead of
10 days for children with uncomplicated pneumonia like yours.
That's great news for children and families.
It means less money spent on antibiotics,
decreased exposure to medicine
which could have side effects,
and fewer days having to take that medicine
for children to feel better.