Suicide Risk Not Increased With Oseltamivir in Pediatric Patients

HealthDay News — Oseltamivir does not appear to be associated with suicide risk in pediatric patients, according to a study published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

Rachel Harrington, from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy, and colleagues used a national administrative claims database and a case-crossover design to examine data from five influenza seasons (2009 to 2013) for 1- to 18-year-olds.

The authors examined exposure to oseltamavir and assessed the correlation between oseltamavir use and suicide.

The researchers identified 21,407 suicide-related events during the study period, including 251 in oseltamivir-exposed children. There was no significant correlation with suicide for oseltamavir exposure (odds ratio, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.39-1.00; P =.05) or for influenza diagnosis alone (odds ratio, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.34-1.08; P =.1) in case-crossover analysis.

“Our findings suggest that oseltamivir does not increase risk of suicide in the pediatric population,” the authors wrote.

Reference

Harrington R, Adimadhyam S, Lee TA, Schumock GT, Antoon JW. The relationship between oseltamivir and suicide in pediatric patients.  Ann Fam Med. 2018; 16(2): 145-148.