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Updated: Dec 24, 2025
Determining Soil-transmitted Helminth Infection Status and Physical Fitness of School-aged Children
Published on: August 22, 2012
Deworming children for soil-transmitted helminths in low and middle-income countries: systematic review and
Vivian Andrea Welch1,2, Alomgir Hossain2,3,4, Elizabeth Ghogomu5
1Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Insights
Deworming children globally may improve weight gain, especially for those with moderate to heavy soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections. Further research is needed to confirm cognitive benefits and explore complementary public health strategies.
Area of Science:
- Global Health
- Pediatrics
- Infectious Diseases
Background:
- Intestinal parasites, specifically soil-transmitted helminths (STH), impact millions of children worldwide.
- Nutritional status and cognitive development in children can be affected by STH infections.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the effects of deworming on children's nutritional and cognitive outcomes.
- To investigate potential effect modifiers, such as age, sex, nutritional status, and infection intensity.
- To utilize individual participant data (IPD) for a robust analysis.
Main Methods:
- Conducted a systematic search of multiple databases and grey literature up to March 2018.
- Included randomized and quasi-randomized trials comparing deworming to placebo or other nutritional interventions.
- Performed a random-effects network meta-analysis using IPD from 19 STH deworming trials.
Main Results:
- Overall risk of bias was low across included trials.
- No statistically significant subgroup effects were found for age, sex, nutritional status, or infection intensity.
- Deworming for STH may increase weight gain in children with moderate to heavy infections (very low certainty).
Conclusions:
- Deworming interventions show potential for improving weight gain in children with moderate to heavy STH infections.
- The review confirms small population-level effects and highlights the need for further exploration of cognitive benefits.
- Complementary public health strategies are essential to achieve significant growth and cognition benefits in helminth-endemic areas.
Abstract:
Intestinal parasites affect millions of children globally. We aimed to assess effects of deworming children on nutritional and cognitive outcomes across potential effect modifiers using individual participant data (IPD). We searched multiple databases to 27 March 2018, grey literature, and other sources. We included randomised and quasi randomised trials of deworming compared to placebo or other nutritional interventions with data on baseline infection. We used a random-effects network meta-analysis with IPD and assessed overall quality, following a pre-specified protocol. We received IPD from 19 trials of STH deworming. Overall risk of bias was low. There were no statistically significant subgroup effects across age, sex, nutritional status or infection intensity for each type of STH. These analyses showed that children with moderate or heavy intensity infections, deworming for STH may increase weight gain (very low certainty). The added value of this review is an exploration of effects on growth and cognition in children with moderate to heavy infections as well as replicating prior systematic review results of small effects at the population level. Policy implications are that complementary public health strategies need to be assessed and considered to achieve growth and cognition benefits for children in helminth endemic areas.
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