Isah, A.U.J., Ekwunife, O.I., Ejie, I.L. et al. (1 more author) (2020) Effects of nutritional supplements on the re-infection rate of soil-transmitted helminths in school-age children : a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE, 15 (8). e0237112. ISSN 1932-6203
Abstract
Background
The effect of nutritional supplements on the re-infection rate of species-specific soil-transmitted helminth infections in school-aged children remains complex and available evidence on the subject matter has not been synthesized.
Methods
The review included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and cluster RCTs investigating food supplements on school-aged children between the age of 4–17 years. A search for RCTs was conducted on eight databases from inception to 12th June 2019. Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used to assess the risk of bias in all included studies. Meta-analysis and narrative synthesis were conducted to describe and analyze the results of the review. Outcomes were summarized using the mean difference or standardized mean difference where appropriate.
Results
The search produced 1,816 records. Six studies met the inclusion criteria (five individually RCTs and one cluster RCT). Four studies reported data on all three STH species, while one study only reported data on Ascaris lumbricoides infections and the last study reported data on only hookworm infections. Overall, the risk of bias in four individual studies was low across most domains. Nutritional supplementation failed to statistically reduce the re-infection rates of the three STH species. The effect of nutritional supplements on measures of physical wellbeing in school-aged children could not be determined.
Conclusions
The findings from this systematic review suggest that nutritional supplements for treatment of STH in children should not be encouraged unless better evidence emerges. Conclusion of earlier reviews on general populations may not necessarily apply to children since children possibly have a higher re-infection rate.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (see: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Aug 2020 13:12 |
Last Modified: | 17 Aug 2020 13:47 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0237112 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:164509 |