ArticleBMC infectious diseases2020
Evaluating the performance of diagnostic methods for soil transmitted helminths in the Amhara National Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison of Ritchie and Kato-Katz methods for the detection of intestinal helminths in humans: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Parasites & vectors · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of human and zoonotic dog soil-transmitted helminth infections in Australian Indigenous communities.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Schistosoma mansoni and soil-transmitted helminth infections among schoolchildren living along the shore of Lake Hawassa, southern Ethiopia.Parasites & vectors · 2024Article
- Article
- A general framework to support cost-efficient survey design choices for the control of soil-transmitted helminths when deploying Kato-Katz thick smear.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Prevalence, intensity and associated risk factors of soil-transmitted helminth infections among individuals living in Bata district, Equatorial Guinea.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Performance Evaluation of Three Diagnostic Methods for Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections among Schoolchildren in Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia.Journal of tropical medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Advantages and Limitations of Microscopy and Molecular Detections for Diagnosis of Soil-transmitted Helminths: An Overview.Helminthologia · 2022Article
- Two-stage lot quality assurance sampling framework for monitoring and evaluation of neglected tropical diseases, allowing for imperfect diagnostics and spatial heterogeneity.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSoil-transmitted helminths are more prevalent in tropics and sub-tropics including Ethiopia. Despite their high prevalence, direct saline microscopy with its low sensitivity has been used as a diagnostic method in almost all health facilities in Ethiopia. Alternative diagnostic methods which have higher sensitivity are not yet implemented. Therefore, this study aimed to compare and evaluate the performance of diagnostic methods for soil transmitted helminths.
methodsA cross-sectional study among 520 school children was conducted from October to December, 2019 in Amhara National Regional State. The study participants were selected using systematic random sampling technique. Stool samples were processed via formol ether concentration, Kato-Katz, spontaneous tube sedimentation and agar plate culture techniques. Data was entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0. The sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value were calculated against the combined result. Strength of agreement of the diagnostic methods was determined by Kappa value.
resultsThe Overall prevalence of soil transmitted helminths was 40.8% using combination of methods. The prevalence 24.4, 22.5, and 32.4%, respectively was recorded by using formol ether concentration, Kato-Katz and spontaneous tube sedimentation. The highest prevalence of hookworm (29.2%) was detected by the agar plate culture. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of formol ether concentration were 57.9 and 78.4%, for Kato-Katz thick smear 55.2 and 76.4%, for spontaneous tube sedimentation were 79.2 and 87.5% to soil transmitted helminths detection, respectively. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of agar plate culture to hookworm detection were 86.4 and 93.5%, respectively.
conclusionSpontaneous tube sedimentation shows higher sensitivity in the detection of soil transmitted helminth infections. Agar plate culture method also indicated better performance for hookworm detection than other methods. Therefore, the employment of spontaneous tube sedimentation technique for routine laboratory and agar plate culture for research purposes will significantly aid in accurate diagnosis of parasitic infections.
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.