Efficacy and safety of single 40 mg/kg oral praziquantel in the treatment of schistosomiasis in preschool-age versus school-age children: An individual participant data meta-analysis

Piero L. Olliaro, Jean T. Coulibaly, Amadou Garba, Christine Halleux, Jennifer Keiser, Charles H. King, Francisca Mutapi, Eliézer K. N’goran, Giovanna Raso, Alexandra U. Scherrer, José Carlos Sousa-Figueiredo, Katarina Stete, Jürg Utzinger, Michel T. Vaillantid*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

    14 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Background Better knowledge of the efficacy and safety of single 40 mg/kg oral praziquantel in pre-school-age children is required, should preventive chemotherapy programs for schistosomi-asis be expanded to include this age group. Methodology We analyzed individual participant-level data from 16 studies (13 single-arm or cohort studies and three randomized trials), amounting to 683 preschool-age children (aged <6 years) and 2,010 school-age children (aged 6–14 years). Children had a documented Schistosoma mansoni or S. haematobium infection, were treated with single 40 mg/kg oral praziquantel, and assessed between 21 and 60 days post-treatment. Efficacy was expressed as arithmetic mean and individual egg reduction rate (ERR) and meta-analyzed using general linear models and mixed models. Safety was summarized using reported adverse events (AEs). Principal findings Preschool-age children had significantly lower baseline Schistosoma egg counts and more losses to follow-up compared to school-age children. No difference in efficacy was found between preschool-and school-age children using a general linear model of individual-par-ticipant ERR with baseline log-transformed egg count as covariate and study, age, and sex as fixed variables, and a mixed model with a random effect on the study. Safety was reported in only four studies (n = 1,128 individuals); few AEs were reported in preschool-age children 4 and 24 hours post-treatment as well as at follow-up. Three severe but not serious AEs were recorded in school-age children during follow-up. Conclusions/Significance There is no indication that single 40 mg/kg oral praziquantel would be less efficacious and safe in preschool-age children compared to school-age children, with the caveat that only few randomized comparisons exist between the two age groups. Preventive chemotherapy might therefore be extended to preschool-age children, with proper monitoring of its efficacy and safety.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article numbere0008277
    Pages (from-to)1-23
    Number of pages23
    JournalPLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
    Volume14
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2020

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