ArticleOpen forum infectious diseases2019
Influenza Antiviral Prescribing Practices and the Influence of Rapid Testing Among Primary Care Providers in the US, 2009-2016.
Article in Open forum infectious diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and healthcare burden of inappropriate antimicrobial treatment in patients at high risk of complications from acute respiratory infections: a scoping review.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Diagnostic accuracy of multiplex respiratory pathogen panels for influenza or respiratory syncytial virus infections: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2022Pooled it
- ERS/ESCMID state-of-the-science statement on the role of rapid diagnostic tests for the diagnosis and management of community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections.The European respiratory journal · 2026Review
- Patterns in Prescribing and Dispensing Influenza Antivirals Among Adults With Influenza Presenting to Urgent Care and Emergency Department Settings: VISION Network, 2023-2024.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025Article
- Modeling the Potential Impacts of Outpatient Antiviral Treatment in Reducing Influenza-Associated Hospitalizations in the United States.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Influenza With and Without Oseltamivir Treatment and Neuropsychiatric Events Among Children and Adolescents.JAMA neurology · 2025Article
- Antiviral Prescription in Children With Influenza in US Emergency Departments: New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN), 2016-2020.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2025Article
- Perceptions and Barriers to Outpatient Antiviral Therapy for COVID-19 and Influenza as Observed by Infectious Disease Specialists in North America: Results of an Emerging Infections Network (EIN) Survey, February 2024.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
- The epidemiology of pediatric outpatient acute respiratory tract infections in the US: a multi-facility analysis of multiplex PCR testing from 2018 to 2023.Microbiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Oseltamivir May or May Not Reduce Hospitalizations.JAMA internal medicine · 2024Article
- The Influence of Rapid Influenza Diagnostic Testing on Clinician Decision-Making for Patients With Acute Respiratory Infection in Urgent Care.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2023Article
- Influenza presentations and use of neuraminidase inhibitors by Australian general practice registrars: a cross-sectional analysis from the ReCEnT study.Family medicine and community health · 2023Article
- Platelet Abnormalities in Children with Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Delayed Influenza Treatment in Children With False-Negative Rapid Antigen Test: A Retrospective Single-Center Study in Korea 2016-2019.Journal of Korean medical science · 2022Observational
- Article
- Provider views on rapid diagnostic tests and antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract infections: A mixed methods study.PloS one · 2021Article
- The characteristics of influenza-like illness management in Japan.BMC public health · 2020Article
- Positive Impact of a Point-of-Care Molecular Influenza Test in the Emergency Department During the 2017-2018 Seasonal Influenza Epidemic.Open forum infectious diseases · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEarly influenza antiviral treatment within 2 days of illness onset can reduce illness severity and duration. Reliance on low sensitivity rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDTs) to guide antiviral prescribing has been reported. We describe antiviral prescribing practices among primary care providers from a large surveillance network in the United States.
methodsFrom 2009-2016, a network of 36 to 68 outpatient clinics per year collected respiratory specimens and clinical data for patients with influenza-like illness (ILI). Specimens were tested for influenza using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We used multivariable logistic regression to assess factors influencing antiviral prescribing.
resultsAmong 13 540 patients with ILI, 2766 (20%) were prescribed antivirals. In age groups recommended to receive empiric antiviral treatment for suspected influenza, 11% of children <2 years and 23% of adults ≥65 years received a prescription. Among 3681 patients with a positive PCR test for influenza, 40% tested negative by RIDT. In multivariable analysis, prescription receipt was strongly associated with a positive RIDT (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 12, 95% CI 11-14) and symptom onset ≤2 days before visit (aOR 4.3, 95% CI 3.8-4.9). Antiviral prescribing was also more frequent among pediatric and private family practice clinics compared with community health centers (aOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.6-2.2, and 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.5, respectively).
conclusionPrimary care providers were more likely to prescribe antivirals to patients with a positive RIDT, but antivirals were prescribed infrequently even to patients in high-risk age groups. Understanding patient and provider characteristics associated with antiviral prescribing is important for communicating treatment recommendations.
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