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Their wordsMy issue is the author's choice of primary and secondary endpoints. A rule of evidence is that you choose as the primary endpoint the most important outcome. Secondary outcomes are chosen to bolster or support the primary. POET II authors got this backward; but readers of the trial can still make conclusions from the evidence-it's just different from what the authors conclude.
Their wordsWhen we treat infections, especially serious ones in the heart and bloodstream, there are a couple of important endpoints-and one is not days without antibiotics, but recurrence of infection or death.
Our reading
The shorter antibiotic course in the POET II trial is a worse strategy than the standard course.
Their wordsThe bottom line is that you don't need to be an academic or infectious disease specialist to take from this trial data that the shorter course is clearly the worse strategy.
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