BACKGROUND

The most common infections transmitted through soil in humans are caused by roundworms, whipworms, and hookworms. The overview of reviews aimed to determine the effectiveness of deworming interventions on anemia in children.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The studies included in this review were systematic reviews and meta-analyses that included randomized controlled trials/cluster trials comparing deworming drugs recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) with placebo or no treatment in children 1-19 years.

RESULTS

The electronic and manual searches have identified 137 titles and abstracts. Full-text screening yielded nine systematic reviews, which finally yielded the inclusion of six published systematic reviews and one previous report of the ICMR Advanced Centre for Evidence-Based Child Health. Overall, the results from seven systematic reviews suggested that there was no significant change in the hemoglobin levels after single- or double-dose deworming in children. The significant heterogeneity was reported by only two systematic reviews by Ghogomu and the ICMR EBM report. The quality of this overview of reviews was assessed through the ROBIS tool, which reported a moderate to low risk of bias for the phase 1 and phase 2 domains.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we suggest no significant change in hemoglobin levels and status of anemia after deworming by single or double dose in children.