Children and adolescents treated with oseltamivir have about half the risk of serious neuropsychiatric complications compared with untreated influenza patients, a US study has found.

In 2006, US regulators added extra warnings to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) after postmarketing surveillance suggested a link to serious neuropsychiatric events in children.

“It is important to note that these warnings were placed on the basis of case reports rather than studies on associated risks for these events,” said the authors of the new study, from Vanderbilt University in the US.

The JAMA Neurology study reviewed data from 692,295 children aged 5-17 across four flu seasons between 2016 and 2020, covering 151,400 influenza cases over almost 20 million person-weeks.