Trial reportBMC public health2014
Anthropometric indices of Gambian children after one or three annual rounds of mass drug administration with azithromycin for trachoma control.
Trial report in BMC public health, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Secondary Effects from Mass Azithromycin Administration: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2022Pooled it
- Antibiotics for trachoma.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Mass Azithromycin Distribution to Prevent Childhood Mortality: A Pooled Analysis of Cluster-Randomized Trials.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2019Pooled it
- Impact of biannual azithromycin on weight-for-age z-score among infants in the AVENIR cluster-randomised trial.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Trial
- Effect of Mass Azithromycin Distributions on Childhood Growth in Niger: A Cluster-Randomized Trial.JAMA network open · 2021Trial
- Single-dose azithromycin for child growth in Burkina Faso: a randomized controlled trial.BMC pediatrics · 2021Trial
- Linear growth in preschool children treated with mass azithromycin distributions for trachoma: A cluster-randomized trial.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Trial
- Anthropometry and Malaria among Children in Niger: A Cross-Sectional Study.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2018Trial
- Early-life antibiotic exposure and the risk of overweight and obesity in children.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Mass drug administration of antibacterials: weighing the evidence regarding benefits and risks.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2022Review
- Effect of Mass Treatment with Azithromycin on Causes of Death in Children in Malawi: Secondary Analysis from the MORDOR Trial.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2020Article
- Article
- The prevalence and risk factors for acute respiratory infections in children aged 0-59 months in rural Malawi: A cross-sectional study.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMass drug administration (MDA) with azithromycin, carried out for the control of blinding trachoma, has been linked to reduced mortality in children. While the mechanism behind this reduction is unclear, it may be due, in part, to improved nutritional status via a potential reduction in the community burden of infectious disease. To determine whether MDA with azithromycin improves anthropometric indices at the community level, we measured the heights and weights of children aged 1 to 4 years in communities where one (single MDA arm) or three annual rounds (annual MDA arm) of azithromycin had been distributed.
methodsData collection took place three years after treatment in the single MDA arm and one year after the final round of treatment in the annual MDA arm. Mean height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height z scores were compared between treatment arms.
resultsNo significant differences in mean height-for-age, weight-for-age or weight-for-height z scores were found between the annual MDA and single MDA arms, nor was there a significant reduction in prevalence of stunting, wasting or underweight between arms.
conclusionsOur data do not provide evidence that community MDA with azithromycin improved anthropometric outcomes of children in The Gambia. This may suggest reductions in mortality associated with azithromycin MDA are due to a mechanism other than improved nutritional status.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.