If patients are given antibiotics before being admitted to a hospital intensive care unit they are less likely to pass away, according to a new study led in the Netherlands and published in the Jan. 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers from the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht looked at almost 6,000 patients in intensive care units across 13 hospitals and compared the impact of two sorts of antibiotics on them.

The participating patients were assigned to three different groups. Some were given an oral antibiotic paste four times daily, others were administered antibiotics by using a gastric tube in the intestinal tract and by intravenous drip, in addition to the antibiotic paste, and the rest of patients received standard intensive care unit (ICU) care.

Researchers expected patients divided in all three groups to be on a ventilator for at least two days or spend at least three days in the ICU, Agence France-Presse reported.

The results show that using antibiotics even prior to the development of an infection saves lives, said Anne Marie de Smet, a researcher at University Medical Center Utrecht. Specialists noticed a 3.5 percent decrease in ICU deaths in the Dutch patients heaviest hit with antibiotic therapy.

Moreover, the study revealed that participants who were given an oral antibiotic paste were 2.9 percent less susceptible to die.

"I believe we should revise the antibiotic policy for the ICU," Anne Marie de Smet said in a statement.