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Malaria, AntepartumCOSMICNCT01941264

Community-based Screening and Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy: a Cluster-randomized Trial

A study testing community based screening and treatment in people with Malaria, Antepartum and Maternal Malaria During Pregnancy - Baby Not Yet Delivered, run by Royal Tropical Institute at 3 sites in 3 countries.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

Malaria is a common disease in Africa and a major health problem. Pregnant women are also at risk of malaria. Malaria in pregnancy is life threatening to both the mother and the baby she is carrying. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 16 years and older, women onlyHealthy volunteers can take part
What is being tested?
community based screening and treatment
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
4,265 participants
Where
3 sitesin 3 countries
Study dates
Oct 2013to May 2016
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 16 years and older
  • Women only
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Residence in the study area and intention to stay in the area for the duration of the pregnancy and for delivery.
  • Aged at least 16 years (pregnant adolescents younger than 16 years will be considered only if they are accompanied by a responsible adult (in the Gambia) or married (considered an adult by marriage in Burkina Faso and Benin.)
  • Willing to provide biological samples as and when required during the study period (blood and placental biopsy)
  • Informed consent

Who cannot join

  • A history of sensitivity to sulphonamides.
  • Already participating in another research study

Trial locations and contacts

3 sites in 3 countries.

3 sites in 3 countries

Benin1 site
  • Centre de Recherches Entomologiques de Cotonou (CREC)

    Cotonou

Other trials in Benin

Burkina Faso1 site
  • Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro URCN/CMA, Centre Muraz (CM)

    Nanoro

Other trials in Burkina Faso

The Gambia1 site
  • Medical Research Council (MRC)

    Fajara

Other trials in The Gambia

About this study

Official title: Community-based Scheduled Screening and Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy for Improved Maternal and Infant Health: a Cluster-randomized Trial in The Gambia, Burkina Faso and Benin

Malaria is a common disease in Africa and a major health problem. Pregnant women are also at risk of malaria. Malaria in pregnancy is life threatening to both the mother and the baby she is carrying. It can result in the destruction of the mother's blood and in babies with a lower birth weight than normal, making them less healthy in their first years of life. These risks are even higher in women having their first pregnancy.

When a woman is pregnant she should go to the Antenatal clinic (ANC) for care. Usually the ANC health staff gives the woman intermittent preventable treatment (IPTp-SP) against malaria. This drug helps protect the woman against getting malaria. Each pregnant woman should receive at least 2 doses of this drug during their pregnancy; thus, they should go the ANC at least 2 times during their pregnancy. However, many women still do not go often to the ANC for health care during their pregnancy.

Read more

This study would like to see whether community health workers (CHW) can work with pregnant women to encourage them to attend ANC more often. Also, the CHW will test a pregnant woman every month for malaria with a rapid test. If a woman has malaria, the CHW will treat her in her home instead of the woman having to go a health clinic for treatment. The woman will be treated with a different drug than the drug that is given at the ANC visits. Our hypothesis is that this will improve the care and management of malaria during pregnancy and this will improve the health of women and their newborns. To see whether this strategy improved the health of women and their newborns, we will take a small piece of the placenta at delivery to test for malaria and we will weigh the baby. We will test this strategy in multiple communities. We will compare this to pregnant women in communities where this strategy was not followed, thus where pregnant women received standard care.

Participants will be pregnant women. There are no direct benefits for participating in the study, except the outcome of our research question that is possible health benefits in the intervention group. The drugs involved are tested safe in pregnant women from second trimester on.

Read the detailed description

Community health workers (CHWs) that will be working in intervention villages will be trained on community-based case management of malaria by monthly testing of pregnant women using a rapid diagnostic test (RDT). They will also be taught the benefit of pregnant women visiting the antenatal clinics (ANC) and that women should receive intermittent preventive treatment with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) at the ANC according to WHO guidelines.

The CHWs will try to identify all pregnant women in their villages and encourage them to visit the ANC as early as possible in their pregnancy. The CHW will check after one week if the ANC was visited. For women who do not attend the ANC, the CHW will further encourage and discuss reasons for non-attendance. Subsequently the CHW will visit the woman's house every month to test for malaria with a RDT.The CHW will give a full course of AL to any woman with a positive RDT. The CHW will also collect a blood slide and a blood spot on filter paper for later analysis in the laboratory. The CHWs will return to women who were treated for malaria to check uptake and compliance by using a short questionnaire and checking the empty packaging of the treatment at the end of the course.

In control communities, CHW will not be trained to do RDTs and give AL to pregnant women. The only data collection will occur during ANC visits.

All women are asked to deliver in collaborating health centres. Peripheral blood will be tested for hemoglobin, malaria infection and resistance against SP. A placenta biopsy will be collected and all babies will be weighed and examined.

Being tested
community based screening and treatment
Keywords
malaria, placenta, pregnancy, plasmodium falciparum, screening and treatment, rapid diagnostic test, coartem, artemether-lumefantrine, community health worker
Medical subject headings
Malaria, Malaria, Falciparum

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • community based screening and treatmentOther

    Also called Rapid diagnostic test, Coartem, Artemether-lumefantrine, malaria village worker

    Already described in intervention arm description.

Study groups in NCT01941264
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
community based screening and treatmentActive comparatorCHWs will identify pregnant women in the village and encourage to go to the antenatal care clinic, furthermore, once a month the community health worker will screen the pregnant women for malaria with a rapid diagnostic test and treat with artemether-lumefantrine in case of a positive test result.
Receives: Other: community based screening and treatment
ControlNo interventionAll pregnant women will be identified in the study area and asked for participation to the study. No intervention will take place.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Placental malaria

    Placental malaria will be diagnosed by microscopy of placental biopsies and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on placental blood.

    Measured: After delivery

Secondary outcomes (1)
  1. Birth weight

    Babies of mothers included in the study will be weighed after delivery.

    Measured: After delivery

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted13 Sep 2013 (estimated)
  2. Study startOct 2013
  3. Primary completionMay 2016
  4. Study completionMay 2016

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Double blind
Who is masked
Investigator, Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
4,265 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT01941264
Sponsor's protocol ID
6800110
Other IDs
ISRCTN37259296
Acronym
COSMIC
Status last verified
Nov 2015
First submitted
10 Sep 2013
Last updated
4 Oct 2016
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
Yes

Publications

  • Scott S, Mens PF, Tinto H, Nahum A, Ruizendaal E, Pagnoni F, Grietens KP, Kendall L, Bojang K, Schallig H, D'Alessandro U. Community-based scheduled screening and treatment of malaria in pregnancy for improved maternal and infant health in The Gambia, Burkina Faso and Benin: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2014 Aug 28;15:340. doi: 10.1186/1745-6215-15-340.

    PubMed 25169073
  • Natama HM, Moncunill G, Vidal M, Rouamba T, Aguilar R, Santano R, Rovira-Vallbona E, Jimenez A, Some MA, Sorgho H, Valea I, Coulibaly-Traore M, Coppel RL, Cavanagh D, Chitnis CE, Beeson JG, Angov E, Dutta S, Gamain B, Izquierdo L, Mens PF, Schallig HDFH, Tinto H, Rosanas-Urgell A, Dobano C. Associations between prenatal malaria exposure, maternal antibodies at birth, and malaria susceptibility during the first year of life in Burkina Faso. Infect Immun. 2023 Oct 17;91(10):e0026823. doi: 10.1128/iai.00268-23. Epub 2023 Sep 27.

    PubMed 37754682
  • Natama HM, Moncunill G, Rovira-Vallbona E, Sanz H, Sorgho H, Aguilar R, Coulibaly-Traore M, Some MA, Scott S, Valea I, Mens PF, Schallig HDFH, Kestens L, Tinto H, Dobano C, Rosanas-Urgell A. Modulation of innate immune responses at birth by prenatal malaria exposure and association with malaria risk during the first year of life. BMC Med. 2018 Nov 2;16(1):198. doi: 10.1186/s12916-018-1187-3.

    PubMed 30384846
  • COSMIC Consortium. Community-based Malaria Screening and Treatment for Pregnant Women Receiving Standard Intermittent Preventive Treatment With Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine: A Multicenter (The Gambia, Burkina Faso, and Benin) Cluster-randomized Controlled Trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2019 Feb 1;68(4):586-596. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciy522.

    PubMed 29961848

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing community based screening and treatment in people with Malaria, Antepartum and Maternal Malaria During Pregnancy - Baby Not Yet Delivered, run by Royal Tropical Institute at 3 sites in 3 countries.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 4 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 4 Oct 2016. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 3 sites in Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Placental malaria (time frame: After delivery). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT01941264, which also lists 4 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 4 Oct 2016.

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