Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29186364›Full record

SynthesisClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2018

Efficacy and Safety of Oseltamivir in Children: Systematic Review and Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Ryan E Malosh, Emily T Martin, Terho Heikkinen, W Abdullah Brooks, Richard J Whitley, Arnold S Monto

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
83citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
10.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

83 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 166 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Guideline
  2. Pooled it
  3. Guideline
  4. Pooled it
  5. The Clinical Utility of Point-of-Care Tests for Influenza in Ambulatory Care: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2019
    Pooled it
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Article
  10. Observational
  11. Influenza.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2026
    Review
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Update on Influenza.The American journal of the medical sciences · 2026
    Review
  20. Article

23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Ryan E MaloshUniversity of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor.
Emily T MartinUniversity of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor.
Terho HeikkinenDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Finland.
W Abdullah BrooksBloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
Richard J WhitleyUniversity of Alabama, Birmingham.
Arnold S MontoUniversity of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor.
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor · USJohns Hopkins University · USUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham · USUniversity of Turku · FI

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Oseltamivir has been used to treat children with influenza for nearly 2 decades, with treatment currently approved for infants aged ≥2 weeks. However, efficacy and safety remain controversial. Newer randomized, placebo-controlled trials (RCTs), not included in previous meta-analyses, can add to the evidence base. Methods: We conducted a systematic review to identify RCTs of oseltamivir therapy in children. We obtained individual patient data and examined protocol-defined outcomes. We then conducted a 2-stage, random-effects meta-analysis to determine the efficacy of treatment in reducing the duration of illness, estimated using differences in restricted mean survival time (RMST) by treatment group. We also examined complications and safety. Results: We identified 5 trials that included 2561 patients in the intention-to-treat (ITT) and 1598 in the intention-to-treat infected (ITTI) populations. Overall, oseltamivir treatment significantly reduced the duration of illness in the ITTI population (RMST difference, -17.6 hours; 95% confidence interval [CI], -34.7 to -0.62 hours). In trials that enrolled patients without asthma, the difference was larger (-29.9 hours; 95% CI, -53.9 to -5.8 hours). Risk of otitis media was 34% lower in the ITTI population. Vomiting was the only adverse event with a significantly higher risk in the treatment group. Conclusions: Despite substantial heterogeneity in pediatric trials, we found that treatment with oseltamivir significantly reduced the duration of illness in those with influenza and lowered the risk of developing otitis media. Alternative endpoints may be required to evaluate the efficacy of oseltamivir in pediatric patients with asthma.

Indexed as

AdolescentAntiviral AgentsChildHumansInfluenza, HumanOseltamivirRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicAntiviral AgentsOseltamivir

Identifiers

PMID29186364
OpenAlexW2768841698

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.