Adherence to and acceptability of artemether-lumefantrine as first-line anti-malarial treatment: evidence from a rural community in Tanzania

Malaria Journal

Research

Abdunoor M Kabanywanyi¹  Prudensiana Kasim¹  Said King'eng'ena¹  Blaise Genton²  Nathan Mulure³  Raymond Schlienger⁴  Christian Lengeler⁵ 

[1] Ifakara Health Institute, P.O. Box 78373, Kiko Avenue, Old Bagamoyo Road, Mikocheni, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;Ifakara Health Institute, P.O. Box 78373, Kiko Avenue, Old Bagamoyo Road, Mikocheni, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;Swiss Tropical Institute, Socinstrasse 57, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland;Novartis Pharma (EACA), P.O. Box 46057, Hospital Road, 00100 GPO, Upper Hill, Nairobi, Kenya;Novartis Pharma AG, Lichtstrasse 35, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland;Swiss Tropical Institute, Socinstrasse 57, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland;

关键词: Malaria;    Falciparum Malaria;    Pill Count;    Artemether;    National Malaria Control Programme;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2875-9-48

 received in 2009-10-16, accepted in 2010-02-11,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundControlled clinical trials have shown that a six-dose regimen of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) therapy for uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria results in cure rates >95% with good tolerability.Materials and methodsA prospective study was carried out to document the adherence to and acceptability of AL administration. This was undertaken in the context of the ALIVE study, a prospective, community-based, observational study in a rural, malaria-endemic area of Tanzania. Following microscopic confirmation of P. falciparum infection, the first AL dose was taken under supervision, with the subsequent five doses taken unsupervised at home. Patients were randomized to receive a home-based assessment close to the scheduled time for one of the unsupervised doses, but were blinded to which follow-up visit they had been allocated. A structured questionnaire was administered by trained staff and AL consumption was confirmed by inspection of blister packs.ResultsA total of 552 patients were recruited of whom 352 (63.8%) were <13 years old. The randomization process allocated 112, 109, 110, 100 and 111 patients to a follow-up visit after doses 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively. For dose 2, 92.0% of patients (103/112) correctly took AL at 8 ± 1 hours after dose 1. The remaining doses were taken within four hours of the correct time in 87-95% of cases. Nine patients (1.7%) missed one dose. Blister packs were available for inspection in 548 of cases (99.3%) and confirmed patient-reported data that the previous dose had been administered. Nearly all patients took AL with water (549/552 [99.5%]). Two patients (0.4%) took the drug with food. The dosing pictogram and clustering of tablets within the blister packs was considered helpful by 91.8% and 100.0% of patients, respectively. Overall, 87.1% of patients (481/552) found AL easier to take/administer than sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) and 87.7% (484/552) believed that AL was more effective than SP.DiscussionFactors contributing to adherence were likely to be helpful packaging, pictorial dosing instructions and patients' conviction that AL is effective.ConclusionAdherence to the dosing regimen and timing of AL administration was very good.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Kabanywanyi et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010