Table 2 Summary of characteristics of included studies
Study | Methods | Participants | Interventions | Primary outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Delayed prescription | ||||
 Arroll et al. [34] | RCT, 2 arms. Settings: New Zealand, one family practice (15 physicians) | Patients presenting with the common cold. Number of participants: 129 | Delayed antibiotic prescription | Antibiotic use |
 Little et al. [35] | RCT, 3 arms. Settings: UK, general practices | Patients with sore throat. Number of participants: 716 | Delayed prescription of antibiotics, no antibiotics | Antibiotic use |
 Little et al. [36] | RCT, 2 arms. Settings: UK, general practices | Children with acute otalgia. Number of participants: 315 | Delayed prescription of antibiotics | Use and collection of antibiotic prescriptions |
 Little et al. [37] | RCT, 5 arms. Settings: UK, primary care setting | Patients with a respiratory tract infection. Number of participants: 556 | Delayed patient-led, post-dated prescription, delayed-collection, delayed-re-contact, no prescription | Symptom severity |
 Pshetizky et al. [38] | RCT, 2 arms. Settings: Israel, primary care setting | Parents of children with acute otitis media. Number of participants: 81 | Delayed prescription of antibiotics | Antibiotic use |
 Poza Abad et al. [39] | RCT, 4 arms. Settings: Spain, primary care setting | Patients with uncomplicated respiratory infections. Number of participants: 398 | Delayed patient-led, delayed collection, no antibiotic | Duration and severity of symptoms |
 Worrall et al. [40] | RCT, 2 arms. Settings: Canada, primary care setting | Adult patients with acute URTIs. Number of participants: 149 | Post-dated delayed antibiotic prescription | Filling the prescription by the patients |
Patient/public information and education | ||||
 Alexandrino et al. [41] | RCT, 2 arms. Settings: Portugal, 10 private daycare centres | Caregivers. Number of participants: 177 | Health education session (HES) | Impact of HES on the indicators of individual health and health care utilization |
 Francis et al. [42] | Cluster RCT, 61 clusters, 2 arms. Settings: UK, general practices | Children with a respiratory tract infection. Number of participants: 558 | Interactive booklet | The proportion of children who attended a face-to-face consultation about the same illness during the 2-week follow-up period |
 Lambert et al. [43] | ITS. Settings: UK, a single geographical population in the North East of England | People of the community | Mass media education | Prescribing rates for all microbial agents |
 Lee et al. [44] | RCT, 2 arms. Settings: Singapore, primary care setting | Patients presenting RTI symptoms. Number of participants: 914 | Education through pamphlets and counselling scripts | Antibiotic prescription |
 Little et al. [45] | RCT, 2 arms. Settings: UK, primary care setting | Adult patients. Number of participants: 2923 | Interactive website | General practitioner consultation |
 Taylor et al. [46] | RCT, 2 arms. Settings: USA, primary care setting | Healthy children. Number of participants: 499 | Parental education through pamphlets and videos | Number of diagnoses of otitis media and sinusitis per study child, number of visits per child for which antibiotics (oral or intramuscular) were prescribed |