Arroll reviewed 12 trials that included more than 1,900 patients with symptoms lasting for seven days or less or with colds that included runny noses with colored discharge for 10 days or less. The patients had been given either antibiotics or placebo. "People receiving antibiotics did no better in terms of lack of cure or persistence of symptoms than those on placebo," Arroll says . . .

. . . Dr. Norman H. Edelman, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, says, "There is no simple answer as to why providers do this. Some physicians may want to prevent complications of bacterial infections, which do occur. Some may be yielding to pressure from patients." But he says "this practice is on the decline as the public becomes more sophisticated about health issues."

Dr. Arroll says that patients are not doing themselves any favors looking for a "quick fix" in pressuring their providers to prescribe antibiotics for colds. "Patients will get a quicker fix if they take decongestants such as pseudoephedrine (Sudafed)," he says.