Defining clinical malaria: the specificity and incidence of endpoints from active and passive surveillance of children in rural Kenya.

<h4>Background</h4>Febrile malaria is the most common clinical manifestation of P. falciparum infection, and is often the primary endpoint in clinical trials and epidemiological studies. Subjective and objective fevers are both used to define the endpoint, but have not been carefully com...

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Main Authors: Ally Olotu, Gregory Fegan, Thomas N Williams, Philip Sasi, Edna Ogada, Evasius Bauni, Juliana Wambua, Kevin Marsh, Steffen Borrmann, Philip Bejon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010-12-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015569&type=printable
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author Ally Olotu
Gregory Fegan
Thomas N Williams
Philip Sasi
Edna Ogada
Evasius Bauni
Juliana Wambua
Kevin Marsh
Steffen Borrmann
Philip Bejon
author_facet Ally Olotu
Gregory Fegan
Thomas N Williams
Philip Sasi
Edna Ogada
Evasius Bauni
Juliana Wambua
Kevin Marsh
Steffen Borrmann
Philip Bejon
author_sort Ally Olotu
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Febrile malaria is the most common clinical manifestation of P. falciparum infection, and is often the primary endpoint in clinical trials and epidemiological studies. Subjective and objective fevers are both used to define the endpoint, but have not been carefully compared, and the relative incidence of clinical malaria by active and passive case detection is unknown.<h4>Methods</h4>We analyzed data from cohorts under active and passive surveillance, including 19,462 presentations with fever and 5,551 blood tests for asymptomatic parasitaemia. A logistic regression model was used to calculate Malaria Attributable Fractions (MAFs) for various case definitions. Incidences of febrile malaria by active and passive surveillance were compared in a subset of children matched for age and location.<h4>Results</h4>Active surveillance identified three times the incidence of clinical malaria as passive surveillance in a subset of children matched for age and location. Objective fever (temperature≥37.5°C) gave consistently higher MAFs than case definitions based on subjective fever.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The endpoints from active and passive surveillance have high specificity, but the incidence of endpoints is lower on passive surveillance. Subjective fever had low specificity and should not be used in primary endpoint. Passive surveillance will reduce the power of clinical trials but may cost-effectively deliver acceptable sensitivity in studies of large populations.
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spelling doaj-art-d0c7dde8955340eeb377607c94f61b3e2025-08-20T03:19:53ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032010-12-01512e1556910.1371/journal.pone.0015569Defining clinical malaria: the specificity and incidence of endpoints from active and passive surveillance of children in rural Kenya.Ally OlotuGregory FeganThomas N WilliamsPhilip SasiEdna OgadaEvasius BauniJuliana WambuaKevin MarshSteffen BorrmannPhilip Bejon<h4>Background</h4>Febrile malaria is the most common clinical manifestation of P. falciparum infection, and is often the primary endpoint in clinical trials and epidemiological studies. Subjective and objective fevers are both used to define the endpoint, but have not been carefully compared, and the relative incidence of clinical malaria by active and passive case detection is unknown.<h4>Methods</h4>We analyzed data from cohorts under active and passive surveillance, including 19,462 presentations with fever and 5,551 blood tests for asymptomatic parasitaemia. A logistic regression model was used to calculate Malaria Attributable Fractions (MAFs) for various case definitions. Incidences of febrile malaria by active and passive surveillance were compared in a subset of children matched for age and location.<h4>Results</h4>Active surveillance identified three times the incidence of clinical malaria as passive surveillance in a subset of children matched for age and location. Objective fever (temperature≥37.5°C) gave consistently higher MAFs than case definitions based on subjective fever.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The endpoints from active and passive surveillance have high specificity, but the incidence of endpoints is lower on passive surveillance. Subjective fever had low specificity and should not be used in primary endpoint. Passive surveillance will reduce the power of clinical trials but may cost-effectively deliver acceptable sensitivity in studies of large populations.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015569&type=printable
spellingShingle Ally Olotu
Gregory Fegan
Thomas N Williams
Philip Sasi
Edna Ogada
Evasius Bauni
Juliana Wambua
Kevin Marsh
Steffen Borrmann
Philip Bejon
Defining clinical malaria: the specificity and incidence of endpoints from active and passive surveillance of children in rural Kenya.
PLoS ONE
title Defining clinical malaria: the specificity and incidence of endpoints from active and passive surveillance of children in rural Kenya.
title_full Defining clinical malaria: the specificity and incidence of endpoints from active and passive surveillance of children in rural Kenya.
title_fullStr Defining clinical malaria: the specificity and incidence of endpoints from active and passive surveillance of children in rural Kenya.
title_full_unstemmed Defining clinical malaria: the specificity and incidence of endpoints from active and passive surveillance of children in rural Kenya.
title_short Defining clinical malaria: the specificity and incidence of endpoints from active and passive surveillance of children in rural Kenya.
title_sort defining clinical malaria the specificity and incidence of endpoints from active and passive surveillance of children in rural kenya
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015569&type=printable
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