Amoxicillin for clinically unsuspected pneumonia in primary care: subgroup analysis.

This was a secondary analysis of a randomized, placebo controlled trial of amoxicillin for acute LRTI in 16 primary research networks in 12 European countries from October 2007 until April 2010. More details on this GRACE-10 study (Genomics to combat Resistance against Antibiotics in Community-acquired LRTI in Europe, www.gracelrti.org) have been reported elsewhere [6]. Eligible patients were aged ⩾18 years who consulted their general practitioner (GP) for the first time with an acute cough (duration of ⩽28 days) as the main symptom. Exclusion criteria were clinically suspected pneumonia [7], based on focal chest signs (focal crepitations and bronchial breathing) and systemic features (high fever, vomiting and severe diarrhoea); pregnancy, allergy to penicillin, treatment with antibiotics in the previous month and immunodeficiency. The study was approved by ethics committees in all participating countries and all participants provided written informed consent.