Kusumawathie 2008a
| Methods | Study design: controlled before-and-after study Study location: Kotmale oya, below Kotmale dam, Sri Lanka Study dates: May to August 2000 Transmission intensity: epidemic Malaria parasite species: not specified Primary vectors: An. culicifacies adanensis (national importance), An. annularis, An. subpictus, An. tessellatus (local importance) Breeding sites: pools formed in riverbed between dam and power plant Baseline data: one day before stocking | |
| Participants | Not applicable | |
| Interventions | Fish species: P. reticulata Indigenous fish species used: no Fish source: riverbed pools below the Kotmale dam and then reared in stock tanks at Regional Office Anti-Malaria Campaign, Kandy Populated sites: 60 riverbed pools, 0.25 to 1.0 m2 surface area and < 1 m depth (29 experimental, 31 control, randomly selected) Restocked: no Co-interventions: none | |
| Outcomes | Number (percentage) of pools positive for anopheline larvae Mean number of larvae per pool Mean number of larvae per 100 dips Method: larval dipping using 100 mL dipper, six dips per m2. Authors collected anopheline immatures but reported larval numbers only | |
| Source of funding | National Research Council, Sri Lanka (NRC Grant No. 99/09) | |
| Notes | Fish number monitored An. culicifacies not identified at any sites | |
| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Study design | High risk | Controlled before-and-after study |
| Site selection | Unclear risk | "Sixty isolated riverbed pools...were selected and labeled" |
| Site allocation | Unclear risk | "P. reticulata was stocked in 29 randomly selected pools". Method of randomization not described |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes | High risk | "Visual counts of P. reticulata were made in each pool, monthly. Visual counts were possible, as the pools were small (not exceeding 1 m2 surface area), shallow (< 1 m depth) and contained clean water" |
| Baseline values | Low risk | Comparable between control and experimental sites |
| Number of sites | Low risk | Adequate numbers of sites in control (31 site) and experimental groups (29 sites) |