Table 8. The effect of quarterly albendazole during childhood on asymptomatic malaria parasitaemia, haemoglobin and growth.
| 2 years | 3 years | 4 years | 5 years | Repeated measures analysis | ||||||
| Placebo | Albendazole | Placebo | Albendazole | Placebo | Albendazole | Placebo | Albendazole | Effect measure | p-valuea | |
| (n = 745) | (n = 722) | (n = 759) | (n = 751) | (n = 743) | (n = 707) | (n = 726) | (n = 697) | (95% CI)a | ||
| Asymptomatic malaria parasitaemia | ||||||||||
| Positive (%) | 59 (8.1) | 30 (4.3) | 32 (4.3) | 34 (4.7) | 32 (4.5) | 30 (4.4) | 36 (5.1) | 33 (4.9) | ||
| OR | 0.51 | 1.09 | 0.99 | 0.95 | ||||||
| (95% CI) | (0.32–0.80) | (0.66–1.78) | (0.59–1.64) | (0.59–1.55) | ||||||
| Haemoglobin | ||||||||||
| Mean (SD) | 11.06 (1.27) | 11.09 (1.39) | 11.78 (1.14) | 11.87 (1.12) | 12.14 (1.00) | 12.11 (1.13) | 12.16 (1.20) | 12.09 (1.19) | ||
| Difference | 0.02 | 0.08 | −0.02 | −0.06 | 0.01 | 0.91 | ||||
| (95% CI) | (−0.11, 0.16) | (−0.33, 0.20) | (−0.17, 0.12) | (−0.19, 0.06) | (−0.08, 0.09) | |||||
| Weight-for-age z-score | ||||||||||
| Mean (SD) | −0.57 (1.07) | −0.61 (1.09) | −0.66 (1.05) | −0.67 (1.00) | −0.77 (0.97) | −0.81 (0.99) | −0.87 (0.91) | −0.88 (0.95) | ||
| Difference | −0.04 | −0.00 | −0.04 | 0.01 | −0.02 | 0.72 | ||||
| (95% CI) | (−0.15, 0.07) | (−0.11, 0.10) | (−0.14, 0.06) | (−0.11, 0.09) | (−0.10, 0.07) | |||||
| Height-for-age z-score | ||||||||||
| Mean (SD) | −0.98 (1.37) | −0.88 (1.25) | −0.77 (1.12) | −0.72 (1.22) | −0.90 (1.26) | −0.87 (1.22) | −1.27 (1.20) | −1.33 (1.34) | ||
| Difference | 0.09 | 0.06 | 0.03 | −0.06 | 0.03 | 0.58 | ||||
| (95% CI) | (−0.04, 0.23) | (−0.06, 0.18) | (−0.10, 0.15) | (−0.19, 0.07) | (−0.07,0.13) | |||||
| Weight-for-height z-score a | ||||||||||
| Mean (SD) | −0.12 (1.39) | −0.22 (1.33) | −0.36 (1.18) | −0.43 (1.13) | −0.36 (1.21) | −0.45 (1.17) | −0.17 (1.19) | −0.13 (1.28) | ||
| Difference | −0.10 | −0.07 | −0.08 | 0.04 | −0.05 | 0.25 | ||||
| (95% CI) | (−0.24, 0.04) | (−0.19, 0.06) | (−0.20, 0.04) | (−0.10, 0.18) | (−0.14, 0.04) | |||||
Malaria parasitaemia results were missing for 39, 53, 52 and 38 children at ages 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, respectively; haemoglobin results were missing for 17, 28, 658b and 13 children at ages 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, respectively; weight-for-age z-scores were missing for 2, 0, 1 and 4 children at ages 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, respectively; height-for-age z-scores were missing for 12, 2, 9 and 12 children at ages 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, respectively; weight-for-height z-scores were missing for 16, 4, 11 and 184c children at ages 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, respectively.
The effect of quarterly albendazole on asymptomatic malaria parasitaemia changed with time (interaction p = 0.02), therefore the overall effect of the intervention on this outcome is not presented.
Haemoglobin was not measured for four-year olds from 22nd January 2009 onwards due to budget constraints.
Weight-for-height z-scores could not be calculated using WHO Anthro software for children who were aged >5 years and 1 month.