Trial reportPloS one2026
Effect of eligibility for referral following mass screening for severe acute malnutrition using mid-upper arm circumference: A prospective regression discontinuity design.
Trial report in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03676764 (Community Health Azithromycin Trial in Burkina Faso), which is not on this 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.
Community Health Azithromycin Trial in Burkina Faso
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
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSevere Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children under five. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is widely used for community screening, but the effect of referral eligibility on subsequent outcomes is uncertain.
objectiveThis study assesses the intention-to-treat effect of eligibility for referral to a nutritional program, triggered by MUAC below 11.5 cm, on subsequent nutritional status and all-cause mortality among children in Burkina Faso.
methodsA prospective regression discontinuity (RD) analysis was nested within the Community Health with Azithromycin Treatment (CHAT) trial, a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Nouna District, Burkina Faso (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03676764). Children aged 6-59 months were screened during twice-yearly censuses; MUAC <11.5 cm triggered a referral recommendation. Because treatment uptake was unmeasured, the estimand was referral eligibility, not treatment receipt. Outcomes were MUAC at the next census and death before that census. Primary analyses used outcome-specific Imbens-Kalyanaraman bandwidths and mixed-effects models with a child random intercept.
resultsAmong 65,554 children, 226 (0.34%) met the referral threshold at least once. The selected bandwidth included 2,901 observations for the MUAC outcome (158 below and 2,743 above the cutoff) and 2,628 observations for mortality (148 below and 2,480 above). The estimated mean difference in MUAC at the cutoff was 0.21 cm (95% CI, -0.22 to 0.65), and the mortality odds ratio was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.03 to 31.37). Most sensitivity analyses were similar, although the widest fixed bandwidth produced discordant and unstable estimates.
conclusionsNear the 11.5-cm cutoff, we found no evidence that referral eligibility changed next-census MUAC or all-cause mortality. These findings do not evaluate SAM treatment receipt or effectiveness, and the mortality estimate was highly imprecise. Stronger mechanisms may be needed to complete referral and link children to treatment.
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.