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).