Treatment of mild to moderate trichuris trichiura infections in children: effects on school performance and growth - abstract

ABSTRACT

The effects of treating mild to moderate infections of Trichuris trichiura were investigated in 407 Jamaican children, aged 6 to 12 years. The children were randomly assigned to receive treatment (albendazole) or a placebo which were given at approximately 4-month intervals. The study lasted 17 months and the outcome variables included tests of reading, spelling and arithmetic, school attendance and growth. There was no significant treatment effect in the school achievement tests or in height gain. However, a significant treatment-by-infection intensity effect for body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.03) and a significant treatment-by-stunting effect in school attendance (p = 0.002) were found. Among the children with lower infection intensities, BMI improved with treatment (p = 0.08) after six months of the study but there was no treatment effect in the final 11 months of the investigation. On the other hand, the children with higher infection intensities were not affected during the first six months but had improved BMIs with treatment in the final 11 months of the study (p < 0.002). During the first year of the study, the school attendance of the stunted children improved with treatment (p < 0.001) while there was no effect in the non-stunted children. However, during the second year, there was an improvement in attendance in the non-stunted children with treatment (p = 0.06) while the stunted children who were treated did worse than those who received placebos (p < 0.05). These findings indicate that benefits from the treatment of T.trichiura infections depend on the nutritional status of the children, their infection intensities as well as the duration of treatment (AU)