Revisiting the circulation time of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes: molecular detection methods to estimate the duration of gametocyte carriage and the effect of gametocytocidal drugs

Table 1 Baseline description of the two studies that provided data for the current analysis

	Kenya, 2003-2004	Tanzania, 2006
Number of participants	160*	108
Age, median (IQR)	3 (1-5)	5 (3-9)
Drugs, (n)	Non-ACT: SP+AQ (127) ACT: SP+AS (174) & AL (75)	ACT: SP+AS (54) ACT-PQ: SP+AS+PQ (54)
Enrolment asexual microscopic parasite density, geometric mean (95% CI)	11,813 (9,690 - 14,402)	7,440 (1,000 - 24,280)
Microscopic gametocyte prevalence at enrolment, % (n/N)	25.5 (40/157)	22.6 (24/106)
Pfs 25 QT-NASBA gametocyte prevalence at enrolment, % (n/N)	Non-ACT: 91.1 (41/45): ACT: 89.3 (100/112)	ACT: 88.2 (45/51) ACT-PQ: 92.3 (48/52)
Pfs 25 QT-NASBA gametocyte density at enrolment, geometric mean/μL (95% CI)	Non-ACT: 1.22 (0.58-2.56) ACT: 0.66 (0.42-1.03)	ACT: 20.26 (8.08-50.37) ACT-PQ: 9.90 (4.43-22.11)
Included in current model fitting analysis	Non-ACT: 36^¶ ACT: 90^¶	ACT: 36^¥ ACT-PQ: 41^¥

IQR = interquartile range; SP = Sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine; AQ = amodiaquine; AS = artesunate; AL = artemether-lumefantrine; PQ: primaquine. * SP treated individuals (n = 152) or those without QT-NASBA data (n = 216) were excluded from the current analyses; ^¶34 individuals were excluded because of treatment failure (n = 28) and/or failure to develop gametocytes during follow-up (n = 6); ^¥26 individuals were excluded because of treatment failure (n = 21) and/or failure to develop gametocytes during follow-up (n = 8) and/or missing data (3).

ISSN: 1475-2875