Protocol-driven primary care and community linkage to reduce all-cause mortality in rural Zambia: a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial

Frontiers in Public Health

Public Health

Roma Chilengi¹  Samuel Bosompraph²  Wilbroad Mutale³  James Lewis⁴  Namwinga Chintu⁵  Jeffrey Stringer⁶  Ab Sharp⁷  Margaret M. Tembo⁷  Helen Ayles⁷ 

[1] Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), Lusaka, Zambia;Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), Lusaka, Zambia;Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana;Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia;MRC Tropical Epidemiology Group, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom;Society for Family Health in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia;University of North Carolina, Global Women Health, Chapel Hill, NC, United States;Zambia AIDS Related Tuberculosis (ZAMBART), Lusaka, Zambia;

关键词: health systems;    mortality;    stepped wedge;    quality improvement;    health system strengthening;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2023.1214066

 received in 2023-04-28, accepted in 2023-07-03,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionWhile tremendous progress has been made in recent years to improve the health of people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), significant challenges remain. Chief among these are poor health systems, which are often ill-equipped to respond to current challenges. It remains unclear whether intensive intervention at the health system level will result in improved outcomes, as there have been few rigorously designed comparative studies. We present results of a complex health system intervention that was implemented in Zambia using a cluster randomized design.MethodsBHOMA was a complex health system intervention comprising intensive clinical training and quality improvement measures, support for commodities procurement, improved community outreach, and district level management support. The intervention was introduced as a stepped wedge cluster-randomized trial in 42 predominately rural health centers and their surrounding communities in Lusaka Province, Zambia. Baseline survey was conducted between January–May 2011, mid-line survey was conducted February–November, 2013 and Endline survey, February–November 2015.The primary outcome was all-cause mortality among those between 28 days and 60 years of age and assessed through community-based mortality surveys. Secondary outcomes included post-neonatal under-five mortality and service coverage scores. Service coverage scores were calculated across five domains (child preventative services; child treatment services; family planning; maternal health services, and adult health services). We fit Cox proportional hazards model with shared frailty at the cluster level for the primary analysis. Mortality rates were age-standardized using the WHO World Standard Population.ResultsMortality declined substantially from 3.9 per 1,000 person-years in the pre-intervention period, to 1.5 per 1,000 person-years in the post intervention period. When we compared intervention and control periods, there were 174 deaths in 49,230 person years (age-standardized rate = 4.4 per 1,000 person-years) in the control phase and 277 deaths in 74,519 person years (age-standardized rate = 4.6 per 1,000 person-years) in the intervention phase. Overall, there was no evidence for an effect of the intervention in minimally-adjusted [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.18; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.88, 1.56; value of p = 0.265], or adjusted (HR = 1.12; 95% CI: 0.84, 1.49; value of p = 0.443) analyses.Coverage scores that showed some evidence of changing with time since the cluster joined the intervention were: an increasing proportion of children sleeping under insecticide treated bed-net (value of p < 0.001); an increasing proportion of febrile children who received appropriate anti-malarial drugs (value of p = 0.039); and an increasing proportion of ever hypertensive adults with currently controlled hypertension (value of p = 0.047). No adjustments were made for multiple-testing and the overall coverage score showed no statistical evidence for a change over time (value of p = 0.308).ConclusionWe noted an overall reduction in post-neonatal under 60 mortality in the study communities during the period of our study, but this could not be attributed to the BHOMA intervention. Some improvements in service coverage scores were observed.Clinical Trial Registrationclinicaltrials.gov, Identifier NCT01942278.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Mutale, Ayles, Lewis, Bosompraph, Chilengi, Tembo, Sharp, Chintu and Stringer.