Background: We compared sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) with unsupervised artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and unsupervised amodiaquine-artesunate (ASAQ) fixed-dose formulation for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in children in Benin.
Methods: This open-label, noninferiority comparative trial included children aged 6-60 months. The follow-up period was 6 weeks, and the primary objective was a comparison of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-adjusted effectiveness rates at day 28.
Results: The study included 240 children (48 received SP, and 96 each received AL and ASAQ). The intention-to-treat analysis showed effectiveness rates on day 28 of 20.8%, 78.1%, and 70.5% for SP, AL, and ASAQ, respectively. After adjustment for PCR results, these rates were 27.1%, 83.3%, and 87.4%, respectively. The per-protocol analysis (217 patients) showed effectiveness rates on day 28 of 21.7%, 88.0%, and 76.1% for SP, AL, and ASAQ, respectively. After adjustment for PCR results, these rates were 28.3%, 94.0%, and 93.2%, respectively. SP was less effective than the other drugs in the PCR-adjusted analysis, whereas AL and ASAQ were equally effective. The rate of new infection was higher among children treated with ASAQ than among those treated with AL.
Conclusions: This was the first trial, to our knowledge, to compare unsupervised AL with unsupervised ASAQ fixed-dose formulation; both treatments provided high PCR-adjusted day 28 effectiveness rates. Efficacy rates for SP were surprisingly low. Clinical trials registration. NCT00460369.