Systematic review to evaluate a potential association between helminth infection and physical stunting in children

Table 10 GRADE summary of findings table for pregnant women [79]

Certainty assessment							No. of patients		Effect		Certainty	Importance
No. of studies	Study design	Risk of bias	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	Other considerations	anthelmintic	placebo	Relative (95% CI)	Absolute (95% CI)	Certainty	Importance
Low birth weight (< 2500 g)
4	Randomised trials	Serious ^a	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	126/1768 (7.1%)	139/1676 (8.3%)	OR 0.86 (0.67 to 1.10)	11 fewer per 1000 (from 26 fewer to 8 more)	⨁⨁⨁◯ MODERATE	CRITICAL
Very low birth weight (< 1500 g)
3	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	6/1482 (0.4%)	15/1432 (1.0%)	OR 0.46 (0.12 to 1.75)	6 fewer per 1000 (from 9 fewer to 8 more)	⨁⨁⨁⨁ HIGH	IMPORTANT
Mean birth weight (kg)
4	Randomised trials	Serious ^b	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	1768	1676	-	MD 0.01 kg more (0.03 fewer to 0.04 more)	⨁⨁⨁◯ MODERATE	CRITICAL

CI: confidence interval, MD: mean difference, OR: odds ratio, Question: Anthelmintic compared to placebo in pregnant women with helminthiasis to reduce the risk of having a low birth weight baby
^aRisk of bias was upgraded by one level because one study did not diagnose helminth infection (Akpan et al., 2018)
^bRisk of bias was upgraded by one level because one study did not diagnose helminth infection (Akpan et al., 2018)
GRADE Working Group grades of evidence
High certainty: we are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect
Moderate certainty: we are moderately confident in the effect estimate; the true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different
Low certainty: our confidence in the effect estimate is limited; the true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect
Very low certainty: we have very little confidence in the effect estimate; the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect

ISSN: 1756-3305