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. 2021 Apr 1;20:174. doi: 10.1186/s12936-021-03711-4

Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies

S. no. Author, Publication year Study design Study setting and period Follow up Subjects Patient important outcome DHA–PQ AL
Number of participants Inclusion age
DHA–PQ AL
1 Kamya, 2007 [39] Single blind RCT Rural health center, March, 2006–July, 2006 42 days 253 256 6 months–10 years Loss to follow up 0 0
ETF 0 0
LCF 19 30
LPF 73 89
ACPR 117 89
Fever clearance at day 1 137 137
Fever clearance at day 2 66 72
Fever clearance at day 3 52 57
Parasite clearance at day 2 1 2
Parasite clearance at day 3 0 0
Gametocyte carriage at baseline 9 18
Gametocyte carriage day 1–14 5 2
Gametocyte carriage at day 15–28 0 5
Gametocyte carriage at day 29–41 4 11
Hgb at baseline mean (SD) 9.5 (1.8) 9.7 (1.9)
Hgb g/dL at day 42 mean (SD)a 1.9 (1.8) 1.5 (1.8)
Vomiting 65 65
Diarrhea 25 19
Anorexia 90 91
Abdominal pain 19 20
Weakness/malaise 85 103
Cough 136 133
Coryza 127 121
Pruritus 14 22
SAE 4 2
2 Yeka, 2008 [40] Single-blind RCT Health center, August 2006–April 2007 42 days 234 227 6 months–10 years Los to follow up 3 3
ETF 0 1
LCF 9 23
LPF 17 41
ACPR 186 131
Fever clearance at day 1 117 133
Fever clearance at day 2 44 37
Fever clearance at day 3 22 22
Parasite clearance at day 2 7 5
Parasite clearance at day 3 0 0
Gametocyte carriage at baseline 12 18
Gametocyte carriage day 1–14 4 1
Gametocyte carriage at day 15–28 1 7
Gametocyte carriage at day 29–41 4 13
Hgb at baseline mean (SD) 9.9 (2.1) 9.9 (1.8)
Hgb at day 42 mean (SD)a 1.8 (1.8) 1.7 (2.0)
Vomiting 35 35
Diarrhea 26 23
Anorexia 47 49
Abdominal pain 17 24
Weakness/malaise 28 27
Cough 164 150
Coryza 159 150
Pruritus 8 3
SAE 5 2
3 Arinaitwe, 2009 [35] Open-label RCT Local antenatal clinics in Tororo, August 2007–July 2008 63 days 119 111 6 weeks–12 months Other anti-malaria use 1 2
Loss to follow up 5 2
Complicated malaria at day 0 0 1
Recurrent malaria caused by non-falciparum species 0 1
ETF 0 0
LCF 13 45
LPF 26 64
ACPR 306 205
Fever clearance at day 1 138 163
Fever clearance at day 2 13 17
Fever clearance at day 3 9 12
Parasite clearance at day 2 12 22
Parasite clearance at day 3 1 0
Gametocyte carriage at baseline 30 26
Gametocyte carriage day 1–14 10 1
Gametocyte carriage at day 15–28 1 0
Hgb at baseline mean (SD) 9.9 (1.5) 9.8 (1.5)
Hgb at day 28 mean (SD)a 0.6 (1.68) 0.6 (1.56)
Vomiting 23 20
Diarrhea 79 86
Anorexia 3 0
Weakness 1 0
Cough 177 153
Pruritus 0 0
SAE 3 1
4 Bassat, 2009 [76] Open-label RCT (non-inferiority) Rural sites and one peri-urban site, August 2005–July 2006 42 days 164 82 6–59 months

PCR-corrected

ACPR day 28

 155 77

PCR-corrected

ACPCR day 42

 154 77
5 Katrak, 2009 [42] Open-label RCT N/A, August, 2007–April, 2008 N/A 124 122 6 weeks–12 months Vomiting 19 9
Diarrhea 64 76
Cough 200 164
SAE 3 2
6 4ABC, 2011 [36] Open-label RCT N/A, July 2007–June 2009 63 days 422 421 6–59 months Day 28 PCR-unadjusted ACPR 360 313
Day 28 PCR-adjusted ACPR 407 393
Day 63 PCR-unadjusted ACPR 234 209
Day 63 PCR-adjusted ACPR 375 371
7 Yeka, 2013 [37] Single-blind RCT Health center, December, 2007–April, 2009 28 days 72 35 6–59 months LTF 0 0
ETF 0 0
LCF 6 7
LPF 12 14
ACPR 54 14
Fever clearance at day 1 48 14
Fever clearance at day 2 15 21
Fever clearance at day 3 4 2
Parasite clearance at day 2 2 5
Parasite clearance at day 3 0 0
Gametocyte carriage at baseline 0 0
Gametocyte carriage day 1–14 0 0
Gametocyte carriage at day 15–28 0 0
Hgb at baseline mean (SD) 10.8 (1.34) 10.6 (1.41)
Hgb at day 28 mean (SD)a 0.8 (1.7) 0.9 (1.7)
Vomiting 3 2
Diarrhea 1 2
Anorexia 12 3
Abdominal pain 5 0
Weakness/malaise 1 0
Cough 47 20
SAE 0 0
8 Kakuru, 2014 [77] RCT District Hospital, August 2007 and April 2008 N/A 21 22 6 weeks–12 months Loss to follow up 2 2
ETF 0 0
LCF 3 19
LPF 11 53
ACPR 149 127
Fever clearance at day 1 46 106
Fever clearance at day 2 7 16
Fever clearance at day 3 5 3
Parasite clearance at day 2 5 32
Parasite clearance at day 3 1 3
Gametocyte carriage at baseline 15 9
Gametocyte carriage at day 15–28 30 15
Hgb at baseline mean (SD) 9.6 (1.5) 10.1 (1.4)
Hgb at day 28 mean (SD)a 1.0 (1.4) 0.6 (1.5)
Vomiting 8 18
Diarrhea 27 23
Anorexia 6 4
Weakness/malaise 2 2
Cough 64 74
9 Muhindo, 2014 [30] Open-label, RCT October District Hospital, October 2011–December, 2012 28 days 106 96 6 weeks–12 months 16
Loss to follow up 13
ETF 1 0
LCF 7 74
LPF 22 137
ACPR 311 189
Fever clearance at day 1 65 124
Fever clearance at day 2 11 8
Fever clearance at day 3 7 7
Parasite clearance at day 1 181 269
Parasite clearance at day 2 20 23
Parasite clearance at day 3 1 0
Hgb at baseline mean (SD) 11.2 (1.5) 11.1 (1.5)
10 Wanzira, 2014 [38] Open-label, RCT District Hospital, February 2009–2012 28 days 154 158 4 weeks–12 months Other anti-malaria use 3 5
Loss to follow up 21 19
Withdrawn consent 1 2
ETF 2 15
LCF 48 475
LPF 182 894
ACPR 2403 1494
11 Yeka, 2019 [41] Single-blind RCT Health center and Hospital, October 2015–December, 2016 42 days 299 300 6–59 months No outcome 11 10
ETF 0 0
LCF 32 50
LPF 43 85
ACPR 213 155
Fever clearance at day 1 208 231
Fever clearance at day 2 71 72
Fever clearance at day 3 31 18
Parasite clearance at day 1 219 245
Parasite clearance at day 2 22 34
Parasite clearance at day 3 3 3
Gametocyte carriage at baseline 59 60
Gametocyte carriage at day 1–42 43 46
Hgb at day 42 mean (SD)a 1.3 (1.69) 0.8 (1.8)
Vomiting 56 61
Diarrhea 155 114
Anorexia 12 3
Abdominal pain 41 45
Headaches 18 24
Weakness/malaise 42 33
Cough 233 203
Pallor 22 13
Skin rash 56 42
Pruritus 24 16
SAE 6 6

LTF loss to follow up, ETF early treatment failure, LCT late clinical failure, LPF late parasitological failure, ACPR Adequate clinical and parasitological response, AL artemether–lumefantrine, DHA–PQ dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine, Hgb hemoglobin, SD standard deviation, PCR polymerase chain reaction, SAE serious adverse event, N/A not available

aThe mean increase in hemoglobin values from the baseline