Statistical Properties of Parasite Density Estimators in Malaria

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ID: 113775
2013
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Abstract
Malaria is a global health problem responsible for nearly one million deaths every year around 85% of which concern children younger than five years old in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, around million clinical cases are declared every year. The level of infection, expressed as parasite density, is classically defined as the number of asexual parasites relative to a microliter of blood. Microscopy of Giemsa-stained thick blood films is the gold standard for parasite enumeration. Parasite density estimation methods usually involve threshold values; either the number of white blood cells counted or the number of high power fields read. However, the statistical properties of parasite density estimators generated by these methods have largely been overlooked. Here, we studied the statistical properties (mean error, coefficient of variation, false negative rates) of parasite density estimators of commonly used threshold-based counting techniques depending on variable threshold values. We also assessed the influence of the thresholds on the cost-effectiveness of parasite density estimation methods. In addition, we gave more insights on the behavior of measurement errors according to varying threshold values, and on what should be the optimal threshold values that minimize this variability.
Reference Key
hammami2013plosstatistical Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Imen Hammami;Grégory Nuel;André Garcia;
Journal PloS one
Year 2013
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0051987
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051987
Keywords
Epidemiology malaria plasmodium parasitemia cost-effectiveness analysis white blood cells parasitic diseases malarial parasites

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