Effect of periodic antiascaris and antigiardia treatment on nutritional status of preschool children.

One hundred fifty-nine children aged 24 to 61 months with 60% ascariasis prevalence and 21 .5% giardiasis prevalence in rural Guatemala were studied prospectively for 1 yr. They were divided into four groups comparable for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and past growth experience as judged by slopes ofheight and weight on age. Each group was randomly assigned to the following 2-monthly treatment regimens: group I, placebo; group II, piperazine; group III, metronidazole; group IV, piperazine and metronidazole. Height and weight were measured every 3 months and stools were examined for parasites every 4 months. Piperazine administration decreased the prevalence of ascariasis to 33.8% at the end of the study but growth remained unaltered. Metronidazole administration decreased the prevalence of giardiasis to 2.5% at the end of the study and was accompanied by increased growth as judged by iweight, i� % weight for age, slope of weight on age, � height, � % height for age and slope of height on age. It is suggested that failure of antiascaris treatment to enhance growth in this study may be because of 1) absence of severe malnutrition in the subjects, 2) adequacy of dietary protein, 3) possible low worm load, and 4) failure to eradicate ascariasis. The fmdings suggest that giardiasis is associated with reduced growth in preschool children. Am J Clin Nutr I982;36:79-86. the village Santa Maria Cauqu#{233}, Guatemala, Central America, were included in the study with parental con- sent. Parents of four of these children did not want to participate in the study. Eight children had only one parent or no parent alive and hence were excluded, since this might adversely affect their growth and develop- ment. The total number of children studied was 159. The children were randomly divided into four groups, taking care that age distribution was similar in each group. A socioeconomic index based on 14 variables related to education, family size, land holding, housing, and sanitation and hygiene was determined for each child. The socioeconomic status was found to be com- parable in all four groups. Past regression coefficients for weight and height from the age of 12 months onward (available in the records of the INCAP) were calculated for each child. Analysis of variance revealed that past growth experience was comparable in the four groups. The values for attained mean weight for age, height for age, and weight for height also failed to reveal intergroup