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For people with hospitalizations due to influenza, oseltamivir treatment was associated with a lower mortality risk, earlier discharge, and lower readmission rates in a large retrospective study published in JAMA Network Open. Researchers analyzed 11,073 hospitalized adults with seasonal influenza across 30 Canadian hospitals from 2015 through 2023 and found when oseltamivir treatment was initiated in the hospital on day 0 or day 1, patients experienced significantly improved outcomes compared to those who had supportive care alone. Oseltamivir recipients had lower in-hospital mortality (3.5% vs 4.9%; adjusted risk difference [aRD] −1.8%, 95% confidence interval [CI] −2.8% to −0.9%; P<.001); shorter hospital stays (adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio for discharge alive, 1.20; 95% CI 1.15–1.25; P<.001); and reduced 30-day readmission rates (8.5% vs 9.8%; aRD −1.5%, P=.02). The authors say the findings support existing guidelines recommending antiviral therapy for hospitalized influenza patients and highlight a small but clinically relevant benefit. Hospitalization rates across the past few years have been between 1.08% and 1.30% of flu cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Plenty of flu tests in urgent care: New data sourced exclusively by JUCM from more than 23 million visits in 3,000 unique urgent care centers across all 50 states in 2024 shows oseltamivir was prescribed in 2.24% of those visits, ranking within the top 20 of all prescriptions written. Meanwhile, influenza represented the highest volume of point-of-care testing with more than 77.6 million flu tests completed.