Skip to main content

Table 3 Throat culture result and antibiotic prescription in relation to outcomes

From: Association between bacterial finding, antibiotic treatment and clinical course in patients with pharyngotonsillitis: a registry-based study in primary healthcare in Sweden

Throat culture result1

Antibiotics2

Pharyngotonsillitis

Complication

Peritonsillitis3

Tonsillectomy

30 d

30 d

60 d

30 d

60 d

90 d

S. pyogenes

All

30/190 (16%)

1/190 (0.53%)

3/188 (1.6%)

1/190 (0.53%)

1/188 (0.53%)

0/185

Antibiotics + 

21/143 (15%)

1/143 (0.70%)

2/142 (1.4%)

1/143 (0.70%)

1/142 (0.7%)

0/140

Antibiotics − 

9/47 (19%)

0/47

1/46 (2.2%)

0/47

0/46 (0%)

0/45

p

0.5

1†

0.6†

1†

1†

-

S. dysgalactiae ssp. equisimilis4

All

37/171 (22%)

2/171 (1.2%)

2/170 (1.2%)

2/171 (1.2%)

2/170 (1.2%)

0/168

Antibiotics + 

13/87 (15%)

2/87 (2.3%)

2/86 (2.3%)

2/87 (2.3%)

2/86 (2.3%)

0/85

Antibiotics − 

24/84 (29%)

0/84 (0%)

0/84 (0%)

0/84 (0%)

0/84 (0%)

0/83

p

0.03

0.5†

0.5†

0.5†

0.5†

-

F. necrophorum5

All

16/75 (21%)

9/75 (12%)

10/75 (13%)

8/75 (11%)

9/75 (12%)

4/72 (5.6%)

Antibiotics + 

11/41 (27%)

3/41 (7.3%)

4/41 (9.8%)

2/41 (4.9%)

3/41 (7.3%)

1/38 (2.6%)

Antibiotics − 

5/34 (15%)

6/34 (18%)

6/34 (18%)

6/34 (18%)

6/34 (18%)

3/34 (8.8%)

p

0.2

0.3†

0.5†

0.1†

0.3†

0.3†

Negative (extended cultures only)

All

89/381 (23%)

22/381 (5.8%)

23/370 (6.2%)

19/381 (5.0%)

19/370 (5.1%)

9/363 (2.5%)

Antibiotics + 

56/194 (29%)

16/194 (8.2%)

17/188 (9.0%)

15/194 (7.7%)

15/188 (8.0%)

4/184 (2.2%)

Antibiotics − 

33/187 (18%)

6/187 (3.2%)

6/182 (3.3%)

4/187 (2.1%)

4/182 (2.2%)

5/179 (2.8%)

p

0.01

0.04

0.02

0.01

 < 0.001

0.8

  1. Antibiotic prescription and results from throat cultures performed within seven days from the index visit for pharyngotonsillitis in relation to outcomes (n=1 370)
  2. Fisher’s exact test
  3. 1Refers to findings of single pathogens within seven days of the index visit
  4. 2Refers to antibiotics approved by the Swedish Medical Products Agency for treating pharyngotonsillitis (see Methods section) prescribed on the same day as the index visit
  5. 3All cases with peritonsillitis are also included in “Complication”
  6. 4Before 2013, S. dysgalactiae ssp. equisimilis was reported as either group C or G streptococci, which is detailed in the Methods section
  7. 5To detect F. necrophorum, an extended culture was needed (see Methods section). In total, 625/1 370 (46%) of the patients had an extended culture