Influence of rapid malaria diagnostic tests on treatment and health outcome in fever patients, Zanzibar: a crossover validation study.

Autor: Mwinyi I Msellem, Andreas Mårtensson, Guida Rotllant, Achuyt Bhattarai, Johan Strömberg, Elizeus Kahigwa, Montse Garcia, Max Petzold, Peter Olumese, Abdullah Ali, Anders Björkman
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2009
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS Medicine, Vol 6, Iss 4, p e1000070 (2009)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1549-1277
1549-1676
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000070
Popis: The use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for Plasmodium falciparum malaria is being suggested to improve diagnostic efficiency in peripheral health care settings in Africa. Such improved diagnostics are critical to minimize overuse and thereby delay development of resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). Our objective was to study the influence of RDT-aided malaria diagnosis on drug prescriptions, health outcomes, and costs in primary health care settings.We conducted a cross-over validation clinical trial in four primary health care units in Zanzibar. Patients of all ages with reported fever in the previous 48 hours were eligible and allocated alternate weeks to RDT-aided malaria diagnosis or symptom-based clinical diagnosis (CD) alone. Follow-up was 14 days. ACT was to be prescribed to patients diagnosed with malaria in both groups. Statistical analyses with multilevel modelling were performed. A total of 1,887 patients were enrolled February through August 2005. RDT was associated with lower prescription rates of antimalarial treatment than CD alone, 361/1005 (36%) compared with 752/882 (85%) (odds ratio [OR] 0.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.03-0.05, p
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