ReviewCureus2025
Comparison of Artemether Versus Quinine for the Treatment of Cerebral Malaria in Children: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Malaria is a potentially life-threatening parasitic disease caused by a protozoal infection via Plasmodium species, transmitted by a carrier female Anopheles mosquito. Cerebral malaria is typically caused by Plasmodium falciparum and is known as a fatal neurological complication of malaria. This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed due to limited research on the comparison of artemether and quinine for the treatment of cerebral malaria in children. Several electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Scopus) were searched from inception to February 2023. Additionally, risk of bias and quality assessment were performed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for Randomized Controlled Trials. A total of 7 studies were pooled, including 618 patients receiving artemether and 607 patients receiving quinine, leading to a pooling of 1,225 patients in this meta-analysis. It was observed that parasite clearance time (mean difference (MD): -7.63; 95% confidence interval (CI): -11.06, -4.21, P < 0.0001) was significantly improved in the artemether cohort. However, fever clearance time, coma clearance time, and mortality rate failed to reach statistically significant differences. In summary, artemether demonstrated a mildly superior efficacy in comparison to quinine. Thus, regions with artemisinin-sensitive strains of malaria are encouraged to continue the use of artemisinin; however, regions with artemisinin resistance may consider the use of quinine as an alternative in the treatment of cerebral malaria in children. Future comprehensive randomized controlled studies are needed to arrive at a robust conclusion.
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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.