The efficacy of Nigella sativa oil in the prophylaxis and treatment of upper respiratory tract infections in children

[Display omitted] •Phytotherapeutics are frequently used in the prevention and treatment of upper and lower respiratory tract infections.•Nigella Sativa Oil (NSO), a phytotherapeutic that was investigated in our study, has been used safely in traditional medicine for centuries.•Time dependent and non-time dependent comparisons of the primary and secondary outcome measures are displayed in the tables/figures.•In this study, it was observed that NSO consumption alleviated the severity of URTI symptoms and decreased the frequency of URTIs and antibiotic use. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of Nigella sativa oil (NSO) in pediatric Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTI). 230 pediatric URTI patients who were consecutively admitted to Family Medicine Outpatient Clinic between 05/12/2022 and 05/09/2023 whose parents agreed to participate were enrolled. Examinations were completed with 110 cases who were orally consuming standardized NSO exclusively, while 120 controls used no phytotherapeutics. Relationships of categorical variables were analysed by Chi-square. Group comparisons of continuous variables were performed with either t-test or Mann-Whitney U test, depending on the normality of distribution. Time-dependent differences in continuous variables between groups were analyzed by rANOVA. Generally accepted significance was p 0.05) in terms of age and gender. At first follow-up, severity scores (p