Journal article
The effectiveness of honey for symptomatic relief in upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Abstract:
-
Background: Antibiotic over-prescription for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in primary care exacerbates anti-microbial resistance. There is a need for effective alternatives to antibiotic prescribing. Honey is a lay remedy for URTIs, and has an emerging evidence base for its use. Honey has anti-microbial properties and guidelines recommended honey for acute cough in children.
Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of honey for symptomatic relief in URTIs.
Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, AMED, Cab abstracts, Cochrane Library, LILACS and CINAHL with a combination of keywords and MeSH terms.
Results: We identified 1345 unique records, and 14 studies were included. Overall risk of bias was moderate. Compared to usual care, honey improved combined symptom score (3 studies, mean difference -3.96, 95% CI -5.42 to -2.51, I2 = 0%), cough frequency (8 studies, standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.36, 95% CI -0.50 to -0.21, I2 = 0%), and cough severity, (5 studies, SMD -0.44, 95% CI -0.64 to -0.25, I2 = 20%). We combined two studies comparing honey to placebo for relieving combined symptoms, SMD -0.63 95% CI -1.44 to 0.18, I2 = 90%.
Conclusions: Honey is superior to usual care for the improvement of symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections. It provides a widely available and cheap alternative to antibiotics. Honey could help efforts to slow the spread of antimicrobial resistance, but further high-quality placebo-controlled trials are needed.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 309.6KB, Terms of use)
-
- Publisher copy:
- 10.1136/bmjebm-2020-111336
Authors
- Publisher:
- BMJ Publishing Group
- Journal:
- Evidence Based Medicine More from this journal
- Volume:
- 26
- Issue:
- 2
- Pages:
- 57-64
- Publication date:
- 2020-08-18
- Acceptance date:
- 2020-06-21
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1473-6810
- ISSN:
-
1356-5524
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
-
1114307
- Local pid:
-
pubs:1114307
- Deposit date:
-
2020-06-25
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Abuelgasim et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2020
- Rights statement:
- © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
- Notes:
- This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The final version is available from BMJ Publications at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2020-111336
If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record