Antibiotic treatment for low back pain, radicular pain, or both - PubMed
8 hours ago
- #low back pain
- #antibiotics
- #systematic review
- Antibiotic therapy for low back pain with Modic type 1 changes and disc herniation may slightly reduce pain and moderately improve disability compared to placebo at 12-14 weeks, based on low-certainty evidence from two trials.
- Evidence on adverse events from amoxicillin (with or without clavulanate) is very uncertain, with a potential increased risk reported but wide confidence intervals and high inconsistency across studies.
- No trials were found for patients with Modic changes without disc herniation, and effects for other populations (Modic type 2 or no Modic changes) remain unclear due to very low-certainty evidence.
- The review included three randomized controlled trials with 402 participants total, focusing on adults with chronic low back pain or radicular pain, and assessed outcomes using GRADE methodology.
- Authors conclude that further research is likely to change the confidence in these estimates, and the review had no dedicated funding, with most authors declaring no direct conflicts of interest.