28/01/2011

Antiviral use in patients with influenza A can reduce up to 13% mortality if used during the first 48 hours since the first symptoms, according to results of a study coordinated by the head of the ICU department at Vall d'Hebron Hospital and reponsible of the Intensive Medicine group at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), Dr. Jordi Rello.The findings of the research, in which participates the Spanish Society of Intensive Care Medicine, Critical and Coronary Units (SEMICYUC), published in the latest issue of the ‘Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy’, demonstrate the benefit offered by these drugs when used early, since the mortality decreased from 34.3% to 21.5%.The study included 657 patients of 146 Spanish ICU who were treated with oseltamivir, sold as ‘Tamiflu’. Those who began treatment in the first 48 hours remain less time in these units (18.4 days compared to 22.7 days for patients treated later), besides presenting shorter hospital stays (27.2 days for 34 days).According to Dr. Rello, "the early administration of antiviral drugs in ICU patients with influenza A was not only associated with longer survival, but reduced costs as a result of the reduction of days spent in the ICU and days of artificial respiration" .