Pitt Pediatrics congratulates Nader Shaikh, MD, MPH, for his publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association, titled, “Identifying Children Likely to Benefit From Antibiotics for Acute Sinusitis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” Shaikh is a Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical and Translational Science in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics and was recently featured for his publication in JAMA Pediatrics on short-course UTI therapy in pediatric populations. 
Other affiliated authors from the Department of Pediatrics include Timothy R. Shope, MD, Macia Kurs-Lasky, MS, Judith M. Martin, MD, Sonika Bhatnagar, MD, Gysella B. Muniz, MD, Melissa Andrasko, RN, Matthew C. Lee, BA, Kumaravel Rajakumar, MD, and Director of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Alejandro Hoberman, MD.
In this publication, Nader, et al. investigated whether the efficiency of antibiotic treatments differs in children aged 2-11 years with acute sinusitis based on nasopharyngeal colonization with a bacterial pathogen or by the color of the nasal discharge. This research is designed to help better distinguish treatment strategies between children with acute sinusitis and viral upper respiratory tract infections, which often present with similar symptoms. This overlap of symptoms suggest some patients may be misdiagnosed and therefore treated with antibiotics when unnecessary, providing little benefit.
Ultimately, the research group found that children without nasopharyngeal bacterial colonization (28% of the enrolled cohort) benefitted significantly less from antibiotic treatment than children colonized with pathogens. The color of nasal discharge demonstrated no impact on the effectiveness of the antibiotics.
These results demonstrated that in children with acute sinusitis, antibiotic treatment provided little benefit for those without nasopharyngeal bacterial pathogens, regardless of the color of the nasal discharge. These conclusions will likely help reduce excessive unnecessary antibiotic treatment in pediatric patients and more targeted therapies when these symptoms present.
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