In 2010, the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation (SCORE) began the design of randomized controlled trials to compare different strategies for praziquantel mass drug administration, whether for gaining or sustaining control of schistosomiasis or for approaching local elimination of transmission. The goal of this operational research was to expand the evidence base for policy-making for regional and national control of schistosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the 10-year period of its research programs, as SCORE operational research projects were implemented, their scope and scale posed important challenges in terms of research performance and the final interpretation of their results. The SCORE projects yielded valuable data on program-level effectiveness and strengths and weaknesses in performance, but in most of the trials, a greater-than-expected variation in community-level responses to assigned schedules of mass drug administration meant that identification of a dominant control strategy was not possible. This article critically reviews the impact of SCORE's cluster randomized study design on performance and interpretation of large-scale operational research such as ours.
BT - The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene C1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32400342 DA - 05/2020 DO - 10.4269/ajtmh.19-0805 J2 - Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. LA - eng N2 -In 2010, the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation (SCORE) began the design of randomized controlled trials to compare different strategies for praziquantel mass drug administration, whether for gaining or sustaining control of schistosomiasis or for approaching local elimination of transmission. The goal of this operational research was to expand the evidence base for policy-making for regional and national control of schistosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the 10-year period of its research programs, as SCORE operational research projects were implemented, their scope and scale posed important challenges in terms of research performance and the final interpretation of their results. The SCORE projects yielded valuable data on program-level effectiveness and strengths and weaknesses in performance, but in most of the trials, a greater-than-expected variation in community-level responses to assigned schedules of mass drug administration meant that identification of a dominant control strategy was not possible. This article critically reviews the impact of SCORE's cluster randomized study design on performance and interpretation of large-scale operational research such as ours.
PY - 2020 T2 - The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene TI - Challenges in Protocol Development and Interpretation of the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation Intervention Studies. UR - http://www.ajtmh.org/docserver/fulltext/10.4269/ajtmh.19-0805/tpmd190805.pdf?expires=1589979037&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=E97140A40FCB9740FAB808DEC1E5F69C SN - 1476-1645 ER -