There is no evidence antibiotics help the vast majority of patients with acute bronchitis, and doctors should stop routinely prescribing them.

Acute bronchitis, an inflammation of the main airways to the lungs marked by an irritating cough, is one of the most common conditions treated by primary-care doctors, occurring in about 5 percent of adults each year.

Two Virginia Commonwealth University doctors, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, said an exhaustive review of existing research studies and clinical trials turned up no evidence to support prescribing antibiotics for short-term bronchitis.

• Dr. Richard Wenzel, Professor and chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia Campus, Virginia Commonwealth University