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Acute pharyngitis is one of the most frequent reasons for a GP consultation, and in most cases an antibiotic is prescribed.

To determine the impact of rapid antigen detection testing (RADT) to identify group A beta haemolytic streptococcus in acute pharyngitis on the utilisation of antibiotics and appropriateness of their use.

Cluster randomised controlled trial in primary care centres in Catalonia, Spain.

Patients with acute pharyngitis aged 14 years or older with at least one Centor criterion (fever, tonsillar exudate, tender enlarged anterior cervical lymph nodes, or absence of cough) were recruited. Participant physicians were randomly assigned to one of two study arms: an intervention group (assigned to RADT) and a control group (following usual care, without RADT).

Of the 557 adults enrolled, 543 could be evaluated for analysis (281 [51.7%] in the intervention group …