| Summary: | Background This report addresses the following question: Is there a difference in efficacy between oral and intravenous antibiotic treatment of infectious diseases for large and important groups of patients. The report does not answer the question of when (how soon) you can change from intravenous to oral treatment. Methods We based this systematic review of a search for other systematic reviews in relevant bibliographic databases. For pneumonia and urinary tract infections, we also searched for randomized controlled trials. We compiled, analysed and graded the quality of the documentation. We summarized the results for six main outcomes: Total mortality, cure rates, treatment failure, re-admissions, length of stay in hospital and serious side effects. Results We included six systematic reviews which evaluated the effect of oral versus intravenous administration of antibiotics for pneumonia, urinary tract infection, osteomyelitis, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, and febrile neutropenia in cancer patients. In addition, we included 10 randomized controlled trials. On the whole, we did not find significant differences between oral and intravenous administration of antibiotics. The quality of this documentation is low and the estimates are therefore uncertain. Conclusion The documentation provides no basis for determining whether there is difference in efficacy and side effects of oral versus intravenous administration of antibiotics. This does not mean that there are no differences in the administration route, but the results are too uncertain for us to draw conclusions about this
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