Trial reportJournal of general internal medicine2020
Elderberry Extract Outpatient Influenza Treatment for Emergency Room Patients Ages 5 and Above: a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Journal of general internal medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03410862 (Phase IV Study Evaluating The Safety And Clinical Efficacy Of Elderberry Extract In Patients With Influenza), which is not on this map. Cited by 4 papers.
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.
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.
Phase IV Study Evaluating The Safety And Clinical Efficacy Of Elderberry Extract In Patients With Influenza: A Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dual Antiviral and Immunomodulatory Effects of Phytochemicals in Influenza A Virus Infection: Targeting Key Host Signaling Pathways.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Review
- A Review of the Properties of Clinically Evaluated Plant-Derived Agents in the Treatment of Respiratory Infections.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Review
- Fruits of Wild-Grown Shrubs for Health Nutrition.Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBlack elderberry, used medicinally for centuries, decreased influenza duration by 4 days in three previous peer-reviewed trials. US elderberry sales, possibly related to a "high severity" and "high activity" influenza season from January to March 2018, more than doubled from 2017 to 2018 to > $100 million.
objectiveTo determine whether elderberry extract decreases influenza's duration and severity.
designFDA-approved, investigator-initiated, Investigational New Drug, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Conducted January 2018-April 2019 in three emergency rooms, two suburban and one urban, in the Midwestern Health System. PATIENTS: Eighty-seven consecutive, consenting patients, over age four, with < 48 h of at least 2 moderate-severity influenza symptoms and positive polymerase chain reaction influenza test.
interventionPatients from age 5 to 12 years received placebo or 15 ml (5.7 g) elderberry extract orally twice a day for 5 days; those > 12 years received 15 ml 4 times a day for 5 days. Patients were permitted to choose to also receive the standard dosage of oseltamivir. MEASUREMENTS: Primary: days until all symptoms were none or mild for 21.5 h. Secondary: days to complete symptom resolution for 24 h.
resultsThe 87 participants were randomized to receive placebo (n = 44) or elderberry (n = 43). The average age was 25 ± 20 years, and 56% were male. The average number of days to reach all symptoms none or mild for 21.5 h in the placebo group was 4.9 ± 2.8 days compared to 5.3 ± 3.6 in the elderberry group (p = 0.57). The average number of days to complete resolution was 8.7 ± 3.8 and 8.6 ± 3.9 in the placebo and elderberry group, respectively (p = 0.87). LIMITATIONS: Small sample size, but powered > 0.90 to detect 2-day benefit of elderberry versus placebo.
conclusionsWe found no evidence that elderberry benefits the duration or severity of influenza. Post hoc analysis suggested primary outcomes with elderberry taken alone (without oseltamivir) were 2 days worse than with placebo taken alone. Our results contradict previous studies and demonstrate the need for further studies.
trial registrationNCT03410862.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.