Oseltamivir for Flu Tied to Reduced Risk for Serious Neuropsychiatric Events in Children

THURSDAY, Aug. 7, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Oseltamivir treatment during influenza episodes is associated with a reduced risk for serious neuropsychiatric events among children and teens, according to a study published online Aug. 4 in JAMA Neurology.

James W. Antoon, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study during the 2016 to 2017 and 2019 to 2020 influenza seasons to examine the association between influenza, oseltamivir, and serious neuropsychiatric events. Children aged 5 to 17 years enrolled in Tennessee Medicaid were eligible for inclusion (692,975 children).

The researchers found that during 19,688,320 person-weeks of follow-up, there were 1,230 serious neuropsychiatric events (898 neurologic and 332 psychiatric) in 692,295 children. Overall, 66.7 percent of the 151,401 influenza episodes were dispensed oseltamivir (60.1 percent among those at high risk for influenza complications). Mood disorders and suicidal or self-harm behaviors were the most common events overall (36.3 and 34.2 percent, respectively). Event rates were lower during oseltamivir-treated influenza periods and posttreatment periods compared with untreated influenza (incidence rate ratios, 0.53 and 0.42, respectively). This finding was driven more by a reduction in neurologic events than psychiatric events (incidence rate ratios, 0.45 and 0.80, respectively). Misclassification or unmeasured confounding would not explain these findings.

“Our findings demonstrated what many pediatricians have long suspected, that the flu, not the flu treatment, is associated with neuropsychiatric events,” Antoon said in a statement. “In fact, oseltamivir treatment seems to prevent neuropsychiatric events rather than cause them.”

Two authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)