Clinical trial NCT01241318: Zambia Chlorhexidine Application Trial
Official title: Impact of Chlorhexidine Cord Cleansing for Prevention of Neonatal Mortality in Zambia
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE2
PHASE3
Conditions: Sepsis
Keywords: neonate
omphalitis
neonatal mortality
maternal health
umbilical cord infection
Lead sponsor: Boston University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
name: Ministry of Health, Zambia
name: Zambia Center for Applied Health Research and Development
First posted: 2010-11-16
Enrollment: 77535
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 15
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: This will be a cluster-randomized controlled trial to assess whether washing the umbilical cord with a disinfectant (4% chlorhexidine) helps to reduce neonatal deaths in Zambia when compared to the current standard of care, dry cord care.

Detailed description: The primary goals of the Zambia Chlorhexidine Application Trial (ZamCAT) are to assess whether daily 4% chlorhexidine cord cleansing is more effective than dry cord care for the prevention of neonatal deaths and omphalitis (umbilical cord infection) in Southern Province, Zambia. Secondary goals are to 1) compare where pregnant women plan to deliver and where they actually deliver, and 2) to describe the health services network available to pregnant and postpartum women in case of serious illness among the women and their newborn infants.

Clusters consisting of individual health centers and their respective catchment areas will be assigned to one of two arms. In the intervention clusters, mothers will apply 4% chlorhexidine to their infants daily until 3 days after the cord completely separates. Mothers in the control clusters will use dry cord care as per normal routine standard of care and in accordance with Zambia Ministry of Health policy.

In order to achieve the 4th Millennium Development Goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds, simple, inexpensive, and scalable interventions are required. If the use of a 4% chlorhexidine umbilical cord wash effectively reduces neonatal mortality, this will be a low-cost intervention that can be easily translated from a research project into a program for countrywide implementation in Zambia. These results will also add to the limited evidence base about the effectiveness of interventions for reduction of neonatal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Pregnant women in the 2nd or 3rd trimester
* Age 15 years and above
* Pregnant women who plan to stay in the study area (catchment area of the health facility) for delivery and one month post partum
* Willingness to provide cord care as per the protocol of their cluster
* Willingness to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Pregnant women who are not willing to provide cord care as per the protocol of their cluster
* Pregnant women who are not willing to provide informed consent
* Pregnant women in the 1st trimester
* Pregnant women under age 15 years

Primary outcomes:
measure: All-cause Neonatal Mortality
timeFrame: 28 days post-partum
measure: All-cause Neonatal Mortality Among Newborns Who Survived at Least First Day of Life
timeFrame: 28 days post-partum
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Incidence of Omphalitis
timeFrame: 28 days postpartum
measure: Place of Delivery
timeFrame: 28 days postpartum
measure: Factors Influencing Delivery Location
timeFrame: 28 days postpartum
measure: Health Facility Characteristics
timeFrame: 12 months after study initiation
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Choma
country: Zambia
facility: Facilities throughout Southern Province
state: Southern Province
Study officials:
affiliation: Boston University Center for Global Health and Development
name: Davidson H Hamer, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Boston University Center for Global Health and Development
name: Katherine Semrau, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Mullany LC, El Arifeen S, Winch PJ, Shah R, Mannan I, Rahman SM, Rahman MR, Darmstadt GL, Ahmed S, Santosham M, Black RE, Baqui AH. Impact of 4.0% chlorhexidine cleansing of the umbilical cord on mortality and omphalitis among newborns of Sylhet, Bangladesh: design of a community-based cluster randomized trial. BMC Pediatr. 2009 Oct 21;9:67. doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-9-67.
citation: Mullany LC, Darmstadt GL, Khatry SK, Katz J, LeClerq SC, Shrestha S, Adhikari R, Tielsch JM. Topical applications of chlorhexidine to the umbilical cord for prevention of omphalitis and neonatal mortality in southern Nepal: a community-based, cluster-randomised trial. Lancet. 2006 Mar 18;367(9514):910-8. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68381-5.
citation: Arifeen SE, Mullany LC, Shah R, Mannan I, Rahman SM, Talukder MR, Begum N, Al-Kabir A, Darmstadt GL, Santosham M, Black RE, Baqui AH. The effect of cord cleansing with chlorhexidine on neonatal mortality in rural Bangladesh: a community-based, cluster-randomised trial. Lancet. 2012 Mar 17;379(9820):1022-8. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61848-5. Epub 2012 Feb 8.
citation: Soofi S, Cousens S, Imdad A, Bhutto N, Ali N, Bhutta ZA. Topical application of chlorhexidine to neonatal umbilical cords for prevention of omphalitis and neonatal mortality in a rural district of Pakistan: a community-based, cluster-randomised trial. Lancet. 2012 Mar 17;379(9820):1029-36. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61877-1. Epub 2012 Feb 8.
citation: Solomon H, Henry EG, Herlihy J, Yeboah-Antwi K, Biemba G, Musokotwane K, Bhutta A, Hamer DH, Semrau KEA. Intended versus actual delivery location and factors associated with change in delivery location among pregnant women in Southern Province, Zambia: a prespecified secondary observational analysis of the ZamCAT. BMJ Open. 2022 Mar 7;12(3):e055288. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055288.
citation: Park JH, Hamer DH, Mbewe R, Scott NA, Herlihy JM, Yeboah-Antwi K, Semrau KEA. Components of clean delivery kits and newborn mortality in the Zambia Chlorhexidine Application Trial (ZamCAT): An observational study. PLoS Med. 2021 May 5;18(5):e1003610. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003610. eCollection 2021 May.
citation: Henry EG, Semrau K, Hamer DH, Vian T, Nambao M, Mataka K, Scott NA. The influence of quality maternity waiting homes on utilization of facilities for delivery in rural Zambia. Reprod Health. 2017 May 30;14(1):68. doi: 10.1186/s12978-017-0328-z.
citation: Semrau KEA, Herlihy J, Grogan C, Musokotwane K, Yeboah-Antwi K, Mbewe R, Banda B, Mpamba C, Hamomba F, Pilingana P, Zulu A, Chanda-Kapata P, Biemba G, Thea DM, MacLeod WB, Simon JL, Hamer DH. Effectiveness of 4% chlorhexidine umbilical cord care on neonatal mortality in Southern Province, Zambia (ZamCAT): a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Lancet Glob Health. 2016 Nov;4(11):e827-e836. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(16)30215-7. Epub 2016 Sep 29.
citation: Hamer DH, Herlihy JM, Musokotwane K, Banda B, Mpamba C, Mwangelwa B, Pilingana P, Thea DM, Simon JL, Yeboah-Antwi K, Grogan C, Semrau KE. Engagement of the community, traditional leaders, and public health system in the design and implementation of a large community-based, cluster-randomized trial of umbilical cord care in Zambia. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2015 Mar;92(3):666-72. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.14-0218. Epub 2015 Feb 2.