Antiviral Prescribing Among Patients at an Ambulatory Cancer Center With Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza

Woody Sorey; Elizabeth M Krantz; Jessica Morris; John Klaassen; Ania Sweet; Frank Tverdek; Zahra K Escobar; Denise J McCulloch; Steven A Pergam; Catherine Liu

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofad254

Antiviral Prescribing Among Patients at an Ambulatory Cancer Center With Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 May 10;10(5):ofad254. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofad254. eCollection 2023 May.

Authors

Woody Sorey¹, Elizabeth M Krantz², Jessica Morris², John Klaassen², Ania Sweet^{2

3}, Frank Tverdek^{2

3}, Zahra K Escobar^{2

3}, Denise J McCulloch^{1

2

4}, Steven A Pergam^{1

2

4}, Catherine Liu^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
² Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
³ School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁴ Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Abstract

Among 133 cancer outpatients diagnosed with influenza between 2016 and 2018, 110 (83%) were prescribed oseltamivir. Among 109 with a known symptom onset date, 53% presented for care and 31% were prescribed oseltamivir within 48 hours. Patient/provider education and rapid diagnostics are needed to improve early oseltamivir use among cancer patients with influenza.

Keywords: ambulatory setting; antibiotic prescribing; cancer patients; influenza; oseltamivir prescribing; rapid diagnostics.