Delayed antibiotic prescribing is as safe and effective as immediate antibiotics for respiratory tract infections, according to a meta-analysis.

The findings, covering more than 55,000 children and adults, showed symptom severity was no worse with ‘just in case’ antibiotic scripts, the researchers reported.

As a lever to curb antibiotic resistance, such scripts were found to be much more acceptable to patients than outright refusal to prescribe.

Respiratory symptoms did last slightly longer with delayed antibiotics (11.4 vs 10.9 days), but there was no difference in outcomes, such as hospital admission or death, they said.