Expensive anthelmintic treatment to improve growth and cognitive performance is not warranted

Over the past six years, the World Bank and others have widely promoted routine administration of anthelmintic drugs in developing countries. On p 1697, however, Dickson and colleagues, from the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group, show that the evidence for such treatment on improving growth and cognitive performance in children is not conclusive. Their systematic review included 30 randomised trials with a variety of outcomes measured and variously reported. The authors remind researchers that identifying and reporting primary outcomes is essential to avoid selective reporting and look forward to large trials, standard end points, and analysis of individual patients' data to help ground international policies in good evidence.

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Effects of treatment for intestinal helminth infection on growth and cognitive performance in children: systematic review of randomised trials

Rumona Dickson, Shally Awasthi, Paula Williamson, Colin Demellweek, and Paul Garner
BMJ 2000 320: 1697-1701. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]