TOPLINE

Early antiviral therapy initiated within 48 hours of influenza symptom onset was associated with a reduced risk for influenza-related hospitalization among children.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a multicenter, age- and season-matched, retrospective case-control study at hospitals in northern Taiwan.
• A total of 1492 children (mean age, 7.1 years) with laboratory-confirmed influenza were included from 2020 to 2023; 354 children were hospitalized or died within 14 days of symptom onset and 1138 children were not hospitalized, with matching performed between the two groups.
• Early antiviral therapy was defined as treatment initiated within 48 hours of symptom onset and was received by 80.8% of the children, whereas delayed treatment (after 48 hours) was received by 18% of the children, and 1.1% of the children did not receive antiviral treatment.
• The primary outcome was influenza-related hospitalization for fever or respiratory illnesses or death within 14 days of symptom onset.
• The secondary outcome was severe illness requiring ICU admission or mechanical ventilation or resulting in death or complications such as acute necrotizing encephalopathy.

TAKEAWAY

• Early antiviral therapy was associated with a reduced risk for influenza-related hospitalization (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.19; 95% CI, 0.14-0.27).
• Early antiviral therapy was associated with a reduced risk for hospitalization among children aged 5 years or younger (aOR, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.12-0.31) and among those older than 5 years (aOR, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.09-0.25).
• Early antibiotic use (aOR, 7.23; 95% CI, 5.07-10.32) and coinfection (aOR, 3.95; 95% CI, 2.02-7.73) were independently associated with an increased risk for hospitalization.
• Influenza vaccination was associated with a protective effect against hospitalization (aOR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.42-0.90).

IN PRACTICE

"[T]he results of this multicenter, age- and season-matched case-control study provide new evidence strongly supporting the effectiveness of early antiviral therapy in reducing the risk of hospitalization among children, particularly those aged 5 years or younger, the most vulnerable pediatric population," the authors wrote.

SOURCE

The study was led by Ya-Ning Huang, MD, MSc, of the Department of Pediatrics at the Hsinchu Municipal MacKay Children's Hospital in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was published online on August 17 in Pediatrics.

LIMITATIONS

Information on self-paid influenza vaccinations was not available. The study was conducted in a hospital setting, and it may not apply to other populations.

DISCLOSURES

This study was supported by the Population Health Research Center through the Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Taiwan Ministry of Education and the Taiwan National Science and Technology Council. The authors reported no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.