Effect of the intervention on health outcomes at 12-month and 15-month follow-up (classes 1–6)*
| Trial endpoints | Summary statistics | Crude change from baseline | Effect estimate Intervention versus Control schools† OR/difference (95% CI); P value | |||||
| Control schools | Intervention schools | Control schools | Intervention schools | Basic model‡ | Fully adjusted model‡ | |||
| Biomedical outcomes in November 2011:after malaria prevention education in intervention schools, and LLIN distributions in both groups | ||||||||
| Anaemia | 53.4% (502/940) | 54.4% (506/931) | −9.1% | −8.8% | 1.10 (0.76 to 1.58) | 0.616 | 1.07 (0.72 to 1.58) | 0.741 |
| Mean Hb, g/L (SD) | 113.5 (13.1) | 114.4 (12.5) | +3.3 | +4.0 | 0.45 (−1.03 to 1.93) | 0.550 | 0.28 (−1.23 to 1.78) | 0.719 |
| Plasmodium infection | ||||||||
| Trophozoites, all species | 85.6% (805/940) | 79.9% (744/931) | +6.8% | −0.8% | 0.56 (0.39 to 0.80) | 0.001 | 0.59 (0.40 to 0.87) | 0.007 |
| Gametocytes, all species | 9.2% (86/940) | 8.1% (75/931) | +3.3% | +3.3% | 1.04 (0.60 to 1.81) | 0.887 | 0.98 (0.56 to 1.70) | 0.929 |
| Biomedical outcomes in February 2012: after intermittent parasite clearance in intervention schools | ||||||||
| Anaemia | 45.0% (418/930) | 34.5% (321/931) | −17.6% | −28.7% | 0.56 (0.40 to 0.78) | 0.001 | 0.55 (0.39 to 0.80) | 0.001 |
| Mean Hb, g/L (SD) | 117.2 (15.7) | 120.5 (14.2) | +7.0 | +10.1 | 2.80 (1.12 to 4.47) | 0.001 | 2.66 (0.92 to 4.40) | 0.003 |
| Plasmodium infection | ||||||||
| Trophozoites, all species | 77.5% (737/951) | 2.8% (25/897) | −1.3% | −77.9% | 0.005 (0.002 to 0.011) | <0.001 | 0.007 (0.003 to 0.014) | <0.001 |
| Gametocytes, all species | 5.7% (54/951) | 0.1% (1/897) | −3.5% | −8.0% | 0.02 (0.00 to 0.17) | <0.001 | See footnote§ | |
Data are mean (SD), or % (n/N), unless specified otherwise.
*Includes data from children from all classes in the 38 schools included in the biomedical surveys; age range 5–18 years.
†Children in intervention schools received the educational intervention and an insecticide-treated net in April–May 2011, followed by intermittent parasite clearance in December 2011. Biomedical outcomes are compared with schoolchildren in control communities that had received nets as part of a government-run universal coverage campaign in May 2011.
‡All statistical analyses account for clustering within schools and repeated measures within individuals over time. Fully adjusted analyses control additionally for age, sex, height for age z-score and cluster level prevalence of malaria parasitaemia at baseline (proxy for geographical differences risk of infection).
§Not tested because of zero cell value due to incomplete covariate data for the gametocyte-positive child in intervention arm.