LETTER
Acyclovir Plus Steroids for Herpes Zoster
Michael P. Carson, MD
15 May 1997 | Volume 126 Issue 10 | Pages 831-832
TO THE EDITOR:
It was nice to see an article such as that by Whitley and colleagues [1]. I appreciate their straightforward data analysis, but I think that the absolute difference between treatment arms should be stated as prominently as the risk ratios were.
Because acyclovir alone shortens the time to crusting by only 1 day compared with placebo, it would be helpful to know the absolute time to improvement of symptoms. The relative risks that the authors presented were reasonably large with CIs that did not cross 1; however, if the absolute difference between the treatment and placebo groups is not clinically significant, the reader would be aided by having the absolute values stated as prominently as the relative risks were. Requiring the reader to hunt through the text for this information is puzzling. It could lead some people to treat patients on the basis of a relative risk that may not be clinically significant, and it could lead others to ignore an article that on the surface does not seem clinically relevant.
|
Author and Article Information
|
|---|
Women and Infants Hospital, Providence, RI 02905
1. Whitley RJ, Weiss H, Gnann JW Jr, Tyring S, Mertz GH, Pappas PG, et al. Acyclovir with and without Prednisone for the Treatment of Herpes Zoster. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Ann Intern Med. 1996; 125:376-83.
About Letters
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
Top
Author & Article Info
REFERENCE
Article
