Key Takeaways

Current guidelines recommend 5 to 7 days of broad-spectrum antibiotic prophylaxis for upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with cirrhosis.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis, shorter courses of prophylactic antibiotics, or none at all, appeared to be noninferior to longer courses in this patient population.

Higher-quality trials are needed to define which cirrhosis patients truly benefit from antibiotic prophylaxis.

A shorter course of prophylactic antibiotics, or even no course at all, appeared to be noninferior to longer courses in patients with cirrhosis and upper gastrointestinal bleeding in a systematic review and meta-analysis, indicating that guideline recommendations need to be reassessed.

Among 14 randomized trials, shorter prophylactic antibiotic c

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