SynthesisJournal of global health2018
Quantifying bias in measuring insecticide-treated bednet use: meta-analysis of self-reported vs objectively measured adherence.
Synthesis in Journal of global health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed.
- Improved housing versus usual practice for additional protection against clinical malaria in The Gambia (RooPfs): a household-randomised controlled trial.The Lancet. Planetary health · 2021Trial
- Integrating Calcium Into Antenatal Iron-Folic Acid Supplementation in Ethiopia: Women's Experiences, Perceptions of Acceptability, and Strategies to Support Calcium Supplement Adherence.Global health, science and practice · 2020Trial
- Iron Status of Burkinabé Adolescent Girls Predicts Malaria Risk in the Following Rainy Season.Nutrients · 2020Trial
- Article
- Comparing reported and observed use of insecticide-treated nets in Tanganyika, Democratic Republic of the Congo: a post-campaign longitudinal household study.Malaria journal · 2026Observational
- Socio-demographic predictors of insecticide-treated bed net ownership and utilization for protection against malaria by rural community members across five regions of Mainland Tanzania.Malaria journal · 2026Article
- Integrated housing quality and insecticide-treated net use: propensity score methods for childhood anemia prevention in The Gambia.Malaria journal · 2026Article
- Repeated biannual cross-sectional surveys in primary schools set baseline seasonal and spatial surveillance for malaria and schistosomiasis in the Shire Valley Transformation Programme (SVTP), Malawi.Current research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2026Article
- Cascades of effectiveness of next-generation insecticide-treated nets against malaria, from entomological trials to real-life conditions.Nature communications · 2025Article
- An evaluation of LLIN physical integrity and population attitudes towards net use, care and handling during the Magude project in southern Mozambique.Malaria journal · 2024Article
- Mathematical modeling of malaria transmission dynamics in humans with mobility and control states.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2023Article
- Disparities in health and nutrition between semi-urban and rural mothers and birth outcomes of their newborns in Bukavu, DR Congo: a baseline assessment.Primary health care research & development · 2023Article
- Systematic Review of Mixed Studies on Malaria in Pregnancy: Individual, Cultural and Socioeconomic Determinants of Its Treatment and Prevention.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Review
- Ownership and use of long-lasting insecticidal nets three months after a mass distribution campaign in Uganda, 2021.Malaria journal · 2022Article
- Social network correlates of free and purchased insecticide-treated bed nets in rural Uganda.Malaria journal · 2022Article
- A qualitative study of the acceptability of remote electronic bednet use monitoring in Uganda.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Why using bed nets is a challenge among minority populations in Central Vietnam.Malaria journal · 2022Article
- Evaluation of an accelerometer-based monitor for detecting bed net use and human entry/exit using a machine learning algorithm.Malaria journal · 2022Article
- Remote bednet use monitoring to describe patterns of use and exposure to femaleFrontiers in epidemiology · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInsecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) are recommended for use by 3.4 billion people at risk of malaria world-wide. Policy makers rely on measurements of ITN use to optimize malaria prevention efforts. Self-reports are the most common means of assessing ITN use, but self-reports may be biased in a way that reduces their reliability as a proxy for ITN adherence. This meta-analysis compared self-reported and two methods which are more objective measures of ITN use to explore whether self-reports overestimate actual ITN adherence.
methodsA comprehensive search of electronic databases and hand searching reference lists resulted in screening 2885 records and 202 articles were read in full. Sixteen articles with comparable data were chosen for the meta-analysis. Comparable data was defined as self-reported and objectively measured ITN use (observation of a mounted ITN or surprise visits confirming use) at the same unit of analysis, covering the same time period and same population. A random effects model was used to determine a weighted average risk difference between self-reported and objectively measured ITN use. Additional stratified analyses were conducted to explore study heterogeneity.
resultsSelf-reported ITN use is 8 percentage points (95% confidence interval CI: 3 to 13) higher than objectively measured ITN use, representing a 13.6% overestimation relative to the proportion measured as adherent to ITN use by objective measures. Wide variations in the discrepancies between self-reports and objective measures were unable to be explained using stratified analyses of variables including location, year of publication, seasonality and others.
conclusionsSelf-reports overestimate ITN adherence relative to objectively measured ITN use by 13.6% and do so in an unpredictable manner that raises questions about the reliability of using self-reported ITN use alone as a surveillance tool and a guide for making policy decisions.
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