02344nas a2200229   4500000000100000008004100001653003100042653002400073653002900097653001500126100001700141700001900158700001300177700001500190700001400205245013200219856007700351300001000428490000600438520165600444022001402100       2014                            d10aSoil-transmitted helminths10aschool-age children10ahealth hygiene education10aDisability1 aThériault F1 aMaheu-Giroux M1 aBlouin B1 aCasapía M1 aGyorkos T00aEffects of a post-deworming health hygiene education intervention on absenteeism in school-age children of the Peruvian Amazon.  uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4133165/pdf/pntd.0003007.pdf  ae30070 v83 a<p>Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are a leading cause of disability and disease burden in school-age children of worm-endemic regions. Their effect on school absenteeism, however, remains unclear. The World Health Organization currently recommends delivering mass deworming and health hygiene education through school-based programs, in an effort to control STH-related morbidity. In this cluster-RCT, the impact of a health hygiene education intervention on absenteeism was measured. From April to June 2010, all Grade 5 students at 18 schools in a worm-endemic region of the Peruvian Amazon were dewormed. Immediately following deworming, nine schools were randomly assigned to the intervention arm of the trial using a matched-pair design. The Grade 5 students attending intervention schools (N = 517) received four months of health hygiene education aimed at increasing knowledge of STH prevention. Grade 5 students from the other nine schools (N = 571) served as controls. Absenteeism was measured daily through teachers' attendance logs. After four months of follow-up, overall absenteeism rates at intervention and control schools were not statistically significantly different. However, post-trial non-randomized analyses have shown that students with moderate-to-heavy Ascaris infections and light hookworm infections four months after deworming had, respectively, missed 2.4% (95% CI: 0.1%, 4.7%) and 4.6% (95% CI: 1.9%, 7.4%) more schooldays during the follow-up period than their uninfected counterparts. These results provide empirical evidence of a direct effect of STH infections on absenteeism in school-age children.</p>
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