Does oseltamivir shorten flu symptom duration?
There’s benefit even with late Tx
A 2014 double-blind RCT, not included in the previously described reviews, of 130 adults and 1070 children with a positive rapid influenza test examined the effect of oseltamivir and placebo on symptom duration.3 Research assistants visited participants at home each day until patients were asymptomatic for 7 consecutive days.
Treatment with oseltamivir reduced symptom duration by a median of one day compared with no treatment (hazard ratio=0.87; 95% CI, 0.79-0.95). This benefit was observed regardless of whether treatment was initiated fewer or more than 48 hours after symptom onset. One notable limitation was failure to control for paracetamol (acetaminophen) usage, a possible confounder for duration of symptoms, such as fever.
