Does the Use of Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine in Treating Patients with Uncomplicated falciparum Malaria Reduce the Risk for Recurrent New falciparum Infection More Than Artemether-Lumefantrine?

Table 7

Findings on new falciparum infections detected by day 28.

Study name	Study groups with number of new infections	Risk (𝑅)	Risk ratio (RR) (95% CI)	𝑃 value	Interpretation for the RR values
Sawa et al., 2013 [34]	DP (𝑛/𝑁): 0/137; AL (𝑛/𝑁): 8/147	0.00; 0.054	0.063; (0.004–1.083)	0.057	There has been 37% reduction in new infections associated with DP treatment but reduction is not statistically significant.
Yavo et al., 2011 [33]	DP (𝑛/𝑁): 1/191; AL (𝑛/𝑁): 3/183	0.005; 0.016	0.319; (0.034–3.042)	0.321	There was a 68% reduction in new infections in favour of DP treatment but result not statistically significant.
Bassat et al., 2009 [32]	DP (𝑛/𝑁): 27/1038; AL (𝑛/𝑁): 64/510	0.026; 0.125	0.207; (0.134–0.321)	<0.001	This result shows 79% reduction in incidence of new falciparum infections in favour of DP treatment and the reduction is statistically significant. The lowest plausible reduction is 67.9% while the highest is 86.6% as defined by the 95% CI of the RR.
Mens et al., 2008 [31]	DP (𝑛/𝑁): 0/67; AL (𝑛/𝑁): 1/67	0.000; 0.015	0.333; (0.014–8.039)	0.499	DP treatment was associated with a 66.7% reduction in risk for a patient to acquire new infections compared to AL. The reduction is not statistically significant.