Participants
All patients with a confirmed diagnosis of necrotising otitis externa
based on typical population risk groups, clinical findings, CT, and post
contrast MRI scans were recorded. Patient characteristics such as age,
gender and medical history were collected. Additionally, all patients
baseline blood tests (full blood count, renal and liver function) prior
to starting treatment were documented. Only patients requiring
intravenous antibiotics as treatment were included in the analysis. All
patients with NOE were discussed at MDT meetings involving ENT,
microbiology and infectious disease teams to guide selection of
antibiotic treatment.
Data measurement
Electronically scanned notes and prescriptions were used to record the
antimicrobials prescribed for each patient. This included antibiotic
prescribed and duration. All drug discontinuations and clinical
rationale were documented. Any significant events over the duration of
treatment such as hospital admissions or complications were also
documented.
In our study, a single antibiotic regime was recorded as any prescribed
antibiotics, given as either monotherapy or as combination antibiotic
therapy. A change in regime was recorded when there was a switch in
antibiotic prescription. This could be an addition, removal, or
replacement of antibiotic.
All data was collected and analysed anonymously using Excel (Microsoft
Corporation). Statistical analysis was performed using independent
t-tests and Spearman’s rank correlation with 95% confidence interval
using SPSS v26 (IBM).