Developing regional weight-for-age growth references for malaria-endemic countries to optimize age-based dosing of antimalarials = Développer des références régionales de croissance pour le rapport poids/âge dans les pays où le paludisme est endémique, afin d’optimiser la posologie des médicaments antipaludiques en fonction de l’âge = Elaboración de referencias regionales sobre el crecimiento ponderal correspondiente a cada edad para los países donde la malaria es endémica a fin de optimizar la dosificación basada en la edad de los medicamentos contra la malaria
article
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. 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.
Topics
TNO Identifier
523202
ISSN
00429686
Source
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 93(2), pp. 74-83.
Pages
74-83
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