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Nancy S. Jordan, Pharm D
Holyoke, Mass

Arch Intern Med. 1986;146(2):413.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—In their article regarding single-dose antibiotic therapy for uncomplicated urinary tract infections, Drs Philbrick and Bracikowski¹ emphasized that the studies they examined did not have sample sizes large enough to guard against a type II error. Therefore, the finding of "no statistically significant difference" between single-dose and multiple-dose therapy may be erroneous. The importance of the type II error and sample size in the interpretation of "negative" trials has been examined by other authors as well.^2-4

When Philbrick and Bracikowski reanalyzed the results using pooled data, they found a statistically significant difference in the cure rates from studies comparing single- and multiple-dose therapy with ampicillin or amoxicillin but no significant difference in the trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole studies. Even with pooled data, however, the sample sizes for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole therapy were not large enough to guard against a type II error.

After this meticulous analysis, the authors make a . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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