Table 3.
Impact of Intensive Versus Standard Anthelminthic Treatment on Helminths, Clinical Outcomes, Hepatosplenomegaly by Palpation, and Anthropometry
| Outcome | n/N (%)/Arithmetic Mean | Unadjusted | Adjusted for Outcome at Baseline by Age and Sex | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Intensive | RR/Mean Difference (95% CI) | P Value | RR/Mean Difference (95% CI) | P Value | |
| Helminth infections | ||||||
| Schistosoma mansoni, stool Kato Katz | 523/1355 (38.6%) | 323/1396 (23.1%) | 0.64 (0.43–0.94) | .02 | 0.70 (0.55–0.88) | .003 |
| Schistosoma mansoni, stool PCR | 797/1353 (59.9%) | 541/1394 (38.8%) | 0.68 (0.52–0.89) | .007 | 0.76 (0.65–0.88) | .001 |
| Schistosoma mansoni, urine CCA | 1229/1444 (85.1%) | 1216/1435 (84.7%) | 0.99 (0.91–1.08) | .85 | 1.00 (0.93–1.08) | .93 |
| Hookworm, stool PCRa | 147/1353 (10.9%) | 112/1394 (8.0%) | 0.54 (0.28–1.02) | .06 | 0.55 (0.31–1.00) | .05 |
| Strongyloides stercoralis, stool PCR | 112/1353 (8.3%) | 78/1394 (5.6%) | 0.74 (0.50–1.11) | .14 | 0.78 (0.54–1.14) | .21 |
| Trichuris trichiura, stool Kato Katza | 137/1355 (10.1%) | 108/1396 (7.7%) | 0.91 (0.40–2.09) | .82 | 0.85 (0.48–1.50) | .55 |
| Ascaris lumbricoides, stool Kato Katz | 11/1355 (0.8%) | 3/1396 (0.2%) | ||||
| Clinical outcomes | ||||||
| Visible flexural dermatitis | 1/1558 (0.1%) | 4/1553 (0.3%) | ||||
| Haemoglobin | 14.0 | 13.9 | -0.06 (-0.37–0.25) | .70 | 0.00 (-0.24–0.25) | .97 |
| Anthropometry | ||||||
| Height-for-age z-score, age 1–19 years | -0.48 | -0.49 | -0.01 (-0.20–0.19) | .95 | 0.02 (-0.16–0.20) | .83 |
| Weight-for-age z-score, age 1–10 years | -0.06 | -0.17 | -0.11 (-0.31–0.09) | .27 | -0.05 (-0.23–0.12) | .52 |
| Weight-for-height z-score, age 1–5 years | 0.15 | 0.19 | -0.09 (-0.43–0.26) | .62 | -0.06 (-0.40–0.28) | .72 |
| Hepatosplenomegaly, palpation | ||||||
| Hepatomegaly, palpation | 100/1546 (6.5%) | 98/1546 (6.3%) | 0.97 (0.71–1.32) | .83 | 0.96 (0.70–1.32) | .80 |
| Splenomegaly, palpation | 87/1549 (5.6%) | 63/1547 (4.1%) | 0.73 (0.43–1.25) | .20 | 0.70 (0.43–1.15) | .13 |
| Hepatosplenomegaly, palpationa | 22/1548 (1.4%) | 14/1548 (0.9%) | 0.85 (0.52–1.39) | .49 | 0.78 (0.47–1.30) | .33 |
| Reported clinical outcomes (exploratory) | ||||||
| Urticaria, last 12 months | 162/1667 (9.7%) | 172/1656 (10.4%) | 1.06 (0.86–1.30) | .59 | 1.06 (0.88–1.27) | .51 |
| Rhinitis, last 12 months | 78/1667 (4.7%) | 74/1656 (4.5%) | 1.02 (0.73–1.42) | .92 | 1.00 (0.74–1.36) | .99 |
Abbreviations: CCA, circulating cathodic antigen; CI, confidence interval; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; RR, risk ratio.
aFor this outcome, a natural log transformation was applied to village-level proportions to correct skewed distributions.