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Background In malaria endemic areas, schoolchildren usually have asymptomatic malaria infections and consequently remain untreated. Therefore, intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in schoolchildren would be a plausible strategy in malaria stable transmission areas to prevent anaemia and malnutrition. However, in contrast to infancy and pregnancy, antimalaria intermittent...
Background Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most disabling and costly disorders affecting modern society, and approximately 90% of patients are labelled as having non-specific LBP (NSLBP). Several interventions for patients with NSLBP have been assessed in clinical trials, but heterogeneous reporting of outcomes in these trials has hindered comparison of results and performance of meta-analyses....
Background Chronic kidney disease is a common disease. Most chronic kidney diseases evolve from primary glomerulonephritis. Proteinuria is an independent risk factor for the progression of chronic kidney disease. The general consensus is that therapy administered to decrease proteinuria should include steroids and/or immunosuppressants, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and angiotensin II...
Background Although asthma symptoms can be temporarily controlled, it is recommended to use effective low-risk, non-drug strategies to constitute a significant advance in asthma management. Acupuncture has been traditionally used to treat asthma; however, the evidence for the efficacy of this treatment is still lacking. Previous clinical trials of acupuncture in treating asthma were limited by methodological...
Background Dysmenorrhea is a common menstrual complaint among adolescent girls and women of reproductive age. The treatment of dysmenorrhea is typically selected from multidisciplinary options, including complementary and alternative medicine such as acupuncture and moxibustion. However, there are few published randomized controlled trials concerning moxibustion treatment for dysmenorrhea. This...
Background Acute lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is one of the most common conditions managed internationally and is costly to health services and patients. Despite good evidence that antibiotics are not effective for improving the symptoms of uncomplicated LRTI, they are widely prescribed, contributing to antimicrobial resistance. Many of the symptoms observed in LRTI are mediated by...
Background Determination of comparative effectiveness in a randomized controlled trial requires consideration of an intervention’s comparative uptake (or acceptance) among randomized participants and the intervention’s comparative efficacy among participants who use their assigned intervention. If acceptance differs across interventions, then simple randomization of participants can result in...
Background Finding efficacious tools to decrease and interrupt malaria transmission is essential to sustain the gains in malaria control and contain the emergence of artemisinin resistance. Primaquine is effective against Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes and recommended for treatment campaigns in (pre-)elimination settings. Safety concerns preclude its use in endemic African...
Background Cervical spondylosis is a very common disorder and cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) is the most common form of spinal degenerative disease. Its clinical manifestations focus on pain and numbness of the neck and arm as well as restricted movement of the neck, which greatly affect the patient’s life and work. The orthopedic of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory holds that the...
Background The initial therapy for a stenosis in an arteriovenous fistula used for haemodialysis is radiological balloon dilatation or angioplasty. The benefit of angioplasty is often short-lived, intervention-free survival is reported to be 40–50 % at 1 year. Previous small studies and observational data suggest that paclitaxel-coated balloons may be of benefit in improving outcomes after fistuloplasty...
Background Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease. Kunxian capsule, a Chinese patent medicine which has been used in the treatment of immunologic diseases for many years in China, has anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory effects. This study investigates the efficacy and safety of Kunxian capsules in the treatment of AS. Method This was a randomized, double-blind,...
Background In a non-inferiority (NI) trial, analysis based on the intention-to-treat (ITT) principle is anti-conservative, so current guidelines recommend analysing on a per-protocol (PP) population in addition. However, PP analysis relies on the often implausible assumption of no confounders. Randomisation-based efficacy estimators (RBEEs) allow for treatment non-adherence while maintaining a comparison...
Background Chronic heart failure (CHF), the final stage of various cardiovascular diseases, is a major public health problem resulting in significant hospitalization rates, mortality, and huge health care costs despite advances in the treatment and management of heart failure and heart failure-related risk factors. Qishen granules (QSG), a Chinese herbal formula, is widely used by traditional Chinese...
Background Tuberculosis (TB) in children is frequently paucibacillary and non-severe forms of pulmonary TB are common. Evidence for tuberculosis treatment in children is largely extrapolated from adult studies. Trials in adults with smear-negative tuberculosis suggest that treatment can be effectively shortened from 6 to 4 months. New paediatric, fixed-dose combination anti-tuberculosis treatments...
Background Researchers typically report more on the impact of public health interventions and less on the degree to which interventions were followed implementation fidelity. We developed and measured fidelity indicators for the WASH Benefits Bangladesh study, a large-scale efficacy trial, in order to identify gaps between intended and actual implementation. Methods Community health workers (CHWs)...
Background Uptake matters for evaluating the health impact of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions. Many large-scale WASH interventions have been plagued by low uptake. For the WASH Benefits Bangladesh efficacy trial, high uptake was a prerequisite. We assessed the degree of technology and behavioral uptake among participants in the trial, as part of a three-paper series on WASH Benefits...
Background Fibromyalgia and major depression frequently co-occur. Patients with both conditions have a worse prognosis and higher disability, and their treatment options are scarce. Behavioral activation (BA) may be an especially useful intervention for these patients, as it targets mechanisms of action that seem to be common to both disorders. Nevertheless, its efficacy has not been examined in people...
Background This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of thread-embedding acupuncture (TEA) with polydioxanone thread embedded at various acupoints, compared with sham TEA, for the treatment of non-specific chronic neck pain. Methods/design This study will be an 8-week-long, two-armed, parallel, randomized, subject-assessor-blinded, sham-controlled pilot trial. Fifty eligible patients will...
Background Chronic neck pain (CNP) is a common and disabling musculoskeletal disorder in developing and developed countries. Previous studies have shown that tuina and traditional Chinese massage are effective treatments for patients with CNP. However, there is little evidence to support the use of one intervention over the other. The aim of this study is to compare the effects of tuina and traditional...
Background Acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) is the leading cause of mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used in Asia as an adjunct treatment for AECOPD to improve the patients’ symptoms. Xuebijing (XBJ) injection is one of the major herbal medicines used in TCM. Previous small-sample clinical...
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