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- Title
Developing regional weight-for-age growth references for malaria-endemic countries to optimize age-based dosing of antimalarials.
- Authors
Hayes, Daniel J.; van Buuren, Stef; ter Kuile, Feiko O.; Stasinopoulos, D. Mikis; Rigby, Robert A.; Terlouw, Dianne J.
- Abstract
Objective: To derive regional weight-for-age growth references to help optimize age-based dosing of antimalarials in Africa, the Americas, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. Methods: A weight-for-age database was constructed from pre-existing population-based anthropometric data obtained from household surveys and research groups. It contained data collected between 1995 and 2012 on 1 263 119 individuals (909 368 female, 353 751 male) older than 14 days and younger than 50 years in 64 malaria-endemic countries. Regional growth references were generated using a generalized additive model for location, scale and shape by combining data with varying distributions from a range of sources. Countries were weighted by their population at risk of malaria to enable references to be used in optimizing the dosing of antimalarials. Findings: Large differences in weight-for-age distributions existed between the regions and between the regions and global growth standards. For example, the average adult male from the Americas weighed 68.1 kg -- 6.0 kg more than males in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific (average: 62.1 kg). For adult women, the difference was over 10.4 kg: the average was 60.4 kg in the Americas and 50.0 kg in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. Conclusion: There were substantial variations in weight-for-age growth curves between malaria-endemic areas. The growth reference charts derived here can be used to guide the evidence-based optimization of aged-based dosing regimens for antimalarials and other drugs often prescribed by age.
- Subjects
AGE distribution; ANTIMALARIALS; BODY weight; RESEARCH funding; WORLD health; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2015, Vol 93, Issue 2, p74
- ISSN
0042-9686
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2471/BLT.14.139113