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Impact of Influenza Treatment with Oseltamivir on Health, Sleep and Daily Activities of Otherwise Healthy Adults and Adolescents

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Abstract

Objective: To determine the effect of oseltamivir (75mg twice daily) on time to return to baseline health, sleep and activity in patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza infection.

Patients and methods: Data from 1642 otherwise healthy adults (aged 13–64 years), who had experienced a febrile influenza-like illness (>38°C) of up to 36 hours’ duration together with at least one respiratory and one systemic/constitutional symptom, were pooled from four randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. Patients in these trials had been randomised to receive either oseltamivir or placebo for 5 days and had been allowed unlimited use of symptom-relief medications. The primary analysis examined the effect of oseltamivir treatment on patients’ general health status, sleep and normal activities as measured by visual analogue scales. Secondary analyses examined the possible effects of gender, influenza type, smoking, employment status and time to treatment (≤ or >24 hours) on these endpoints.

Results: Oseltamivir significantly reduced the time taken to return to baseline health, sleep and activity across all pooled patients (p < 0.0001) and increased the proportion of patients returning to full activity within the first 7 days following treatment start. Gender, smoking status, time to treatment, influenza subtype and employment status had no appreciable effect on the effectiveness of oseltamivir.

Conclusions: In otherwise healthy adults, oseltamivir reduces the time to return to pre-illness levels of health, sleep and activity, and may help to decrease the overall burden of influenza on society. This provides an important rationale for the early use of antiviral treatment, such as oseltamivir, for the treatment of influenza in otherwise healthy adults and adolescents.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by F. Hoffmann-La Roche.

Dominick Iacuzio, Rick Aultman and Marlene Gyldmark are current employees of Roche. The other authors do not have any potential conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the contents of this study.

The authors thank Dr Iain Bartlett, Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Communications, for editorial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Edmonds Family Medicine Clinic, Edmonds, Washington, USA

    Robert Bettis

  2. Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., Nutley, New Jersey, USA

    Dominick Iacuzio

  3. Private practice, Deggingen, Germany

    Thomas Jung

  4. Private practice, Hemaringen, Germany

    Rudolf Fuchs

  5. F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland

    Rick Aultman & Marlene Gyldmark

Authors
  1. Robert Bettis
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  2. Dominick Iacuzio
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  3. Thomas Jung
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  4. Rudolf Fuchs
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  5. Rick Aultman
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  6. Marlene Gyldmark
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marlene Gyldmark.

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Bettis, R., Iacuzio, D., Jung, T. et al. Impact of Influenza Treatment with Oseltamivir on Health, Sleep and Daily Activities of Otherwise Healthy Adults and Adolescents. Clin. Drug Investig. 26, 329–340 (2006). https://doi.org/10.2165/00044011-200626060-00004

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00044011-200626060-00004

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