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. 2015 Jul 23;2015(7):CD000371. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD000371.pub6

Donnen 1998

Methods RCT
Length of follow‐up: 1 year
Participants All children living in endemic area
Number analysed for primary outcome: 222
Age range: 0 to 72 months
Inclusion criteria: children aged 0 to 72 months eligible on discharge from hospital where primary cause for admission is malnutrition
Exclusion criteria: none stated
Interventions Multiple doses vs placebo and no treatment

  1. Mebendazole: 500 mg at start and every 3 months;

  2. Placebo: 60 mg vitamin A at start and 3 months;

  3. No treatment.
Outcomes

  1. Mean weight post‐treatment;

  2. Mean change in weight post‐treatment;

  3. Mean height post‐treatment;

  4. Mean change in height post‐treatment;

  5. Mean MUAC;

  6. Mean change in MUAC.


Not included in review: vitamin A levels; z‐scores for height‐for‐age, weight‐for‐age, weight‐for‐height (NCHS reference); egg counts (eggs/g: Kato Katz method).
Notes Location: Zaire
Community category: 3
Unadjusted data not provided in original paper; results of multiple‐regression models presented on basis of stratifications into vitamin A status and sex; results in meta‐analysis from R Dickson's correspondence with author when preparing the Dickson 2000a Cochrane Review.
Source of funding: Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique et Medicale (FRSM), contract 3.4505.94 and the David and Alice Van Buuren Foundation.
Risk of bias
Bias Authors' judgement Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias) Unclear risk "randomized". No further details reported.
Allocation concealment (selection bias) Unclear risk No details reported.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes Unclear risk No details reported.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes Low risk Overall, 6% of children were lost to follow‐up, with approximately equal proportions from each group. During the follow‐up period, 25 children died. The final sample included 311 children Inclusion of all randomized participants (number evaluable/number randomized): 86% (311/358).
Selective reporting (reporting bias) Low risk All stated outcomes reported.
Other bias Low risk No other obvious source of bias.