SHINE Sanitation, Hygiene, Infant Nutrition Efficacy Project (SHINE)

July 24, 2018 updated by: Jean Humphrey, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Sanitation, Hygiene, Infant Nutrition Efficacy Project

Globally, stunting affects 26% (165 million) of under-5-year children, underlies 15-17% of their mortality and leads to long-term cognitive deficits, fewer years and poorer performance in school, lower adult economic productivity, and a higher risk that their own children will also be stunted, perpetuating the problem into future generations. Stunting begins antenatally and peaks at 18-24 months of postnatal life, when mean length-for-age Z-score (LAZ) is about -2.0 among children living in Africa and Asia. Improving the diets of young children can reduce stunting, though, at best, only by about one-third. Frequent diarrheal illness has also been implicated. However, the effect of diarrhea on permanent stunting is relatively small, maybe because children grow at "catch-up" rates between illness episodes.

The Sanitation Hygiene Infant Nutrition Efficacy (SHINE) trial is motivated by a 2-part premise:

  • A major cause of child stunting and anemia is Environmental Enteric Dysfunction (EED). EED is a subclinical disorder of the small intestine, which is virtually ubiquitous among asymptomatic people living in low-income settings throughout the world. EED is characterized by increased permeability which facilitates microbial translocation into the systemic circulation and triggers chronic immune activation.
  • The primary cause of EED is infant ingestion of fecal microbes due to living in conditions of poor quality and quantity of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The Sanitation Hygiene Infant Nutrition Efficacy ("SHINE") trial will test the effects of two packages of interventions: 1) improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and 2) improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) on child stunting and anemia in the first 18 months of life. The trial will be conducted in rural Zimbabwe where WASH is poor, food insecurity high, and where about 15% of pregnant women are infected with HIV. The study will enroll 5282 women early in pregnancy and follow them and their infants until 18 months after delivery. The study will be a cluster-randomized controlled trial: two entire districts in central Zimbabwe have been divided into 212 geographic areas, each of about 100 households. The areas will be randomly allocated (that is, assigned by according to chance like the flip of a coin) to one of four interventions:

  1. Improved WASH (a ventilated pit latrine, hand washing facilities with soap, drinking water treatment, a protected play space and health lessons to adopt improved hygiene behaviors)
  2. Improved Infant Nutrition (health lessons on best infant feeding practices and a nutritional supplement (Nutributter) to be fed daily to babies from 6 to 18 months).
  3. Improved WASH and Infant Nutrition (both interventions)
  4. Standard of Care

All women living in the two districts who become pregnant during the recruitment period of the study will be invited to enroll. They will receive one of the 4 packages of interventions according to the area where they live. Health lessons will be given by Village Health Workers. Latrines and hand washing facilities will be constructed by building teams. Mothers will be followed up by research nurses at 7 months gestation, and at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 18 months after delivery. Primary outcomes are infant height and hemoglobin at 18 months of age.

Within SHINE we will measure two causal pathways: the biomedical pathway and the program impact pathway.

The biomedical pathway comprises the infant biologic responses to the WASH and IYCF interventions that ultimately result in attained stature and hemoglobin concentration at 18 months of age; it will be elucidated by measuring biomarkers of intestinal structure and function (inflammation, regeneration, absorption and permeability); microbial translocation; systemic inflammation; and hormonal determinants of growth and anemia among a subgroup of infants enrolled in an EED substudy. The investigators will also ask these mothers to record daily any episodes of diarrhea; blood/mucus in the stool; cough; fast or difficult breathing; fever; and lethargy preventing breastfeeding, that the child has between 1 month and 18 months of age. A subgroup of infants will also have stool samples collected during diarrhoeal episodes to evaluate reductions in pathogen-specific diarrhoea following WASH interventions.

Since the mothers enrolled in SHINE will have lived in unsanitary living conditions throughout their lives, it is anticipated that most will have some degree of EED themselves. It is hypothesized that resulting chronic inflammation contributes to adverse birth outcomes, such as prematurity and low birth weight. This question will be investigated through an observational design. For all mothers enrolled in SHINE, the sugar absorption test described above will be conducted and specimens of saliva, stool and blood collected and archived at the 10-12 week gestation visit for subsequent assessment of EED biomarkers. The association of severity of EED with risk of adverse birth outcomes (low birth length and weight; miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature delivery) will be assessed.

The program impact pathway comprises the series of processes and behaviors linking implementation of the interventions with the two child health outcomes; it will be modeled using measures of fidelity of intervention delivery and household uptake of promoted behaviors and practices. We will also measure a range of household and individual characteristics, social interactions, and maternal capabilities for childcare, which we hypothesize will explain heterogeneity along these pathways.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

5280

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

15 years to 49 years (ADULT, CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Study participants will be women who are rural residents of Chirumanzu or Shurugwi districts in Zimbabwe and who become pregnant during the enrollment period of the trial and are identified and consent to participation during pregnancy, and their live born infants. A total of 5280 women will be enrolled.

Inclusion Criteria:

Pregnant women residing in the study districts, whose pregnancy is confirmed by a urine pregnancy test.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Women residing in the study districts who become pregnant during the enrollment period but do not consent to join the trial
  • Women who reside in urban areas of these two districts
  • Infants with major non-fatal abnormalities will not be excluded from study procedures, but will be excluded from the final analytic sample if the abnormality is likely to directly affect gut health/function or stature (e.g. neural tube defects, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: FACTORIAL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
PLACEBO_COMPARATOR: Standard of Care
The Standard of Care interventions are the blanket interventions.
Behavioral: Standard care

Standard Care:

  • Exclusive breastfeeding promotion for all infants, birth to 6 months
  • Strengthened PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV) services
  • Strengthened Village Health Worker system
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: WASH

One of two active interventions to be studied in this 2X2 (two by two) Factorial trial:

Intervention 1: a package of interventions to improve household sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
Other: WASH

WASH:

  • Standard care interventions
  • Provide household ventilated pit latrine, water treatment solution, and monthly liquid soap, two hand-washing facilities and protected infant play space
  • Provide interpersonal communication interventions promoting feces disposal in a latrine, HWWS (hand washing with soap), drinking water treatment, hygienic weaning food preparation, and preventing babies from putting dirt and animal feces in their mouths.
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Nutrition

One of two active interventions to be studied in this 2X2 Factorial trial:

Intervention 2: a package of interventions to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF)
Dietary supplement: Infant and young child feeding

IYCF:

  • Standard care interventions
  • Provide 20 g/d Nutributter from 6-18 months
  • Provide interpersonal communication interventions promoting optimal use of locally available foods for complementary feeding after 6 months, continued breastfeeding and feeding during illness.
Other Names:
  • Nutrition
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: WASH and Nutrition
This arm receives a combination of all standard care interventions, all WASH and all IYCF interventions.
Other: WASH and Nutrition

WASH AND IYCF interventions

  • Standard care interventions
  • All WASH interventions
  • All IYCF interventions
Other Names:
  • WASH and IYCF

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Infant length at 18 months
Time Frame: 18 months of age. Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan are available at https://osf.io/w93hy.
Recumbent length measured by length board
18 months of age. Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan are available at https://osf.io/w93hy.
Infant hemoglobin at 18 months
Time Frame: 18 months
Measured by Hemocue
18 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Infant environmental enteric dysfunction
Time Frame: 1, 3, 6, 12 and 18 months of age
Assessed in a subgroup of infants recruited to the EED substudy by assessing domains of the hypothesized EED pathway using biomarkers of intestinal structure and function (inflammation, regeneration, absorption and permeability); microbial translocation; systemic inflammation; and hormonal determinants of growth and anemia
1, 3, 6, 12 and 18 months of age
Infant weight, mid-upper arm circumference and head circumference
Time Frame: At 18 months, and (with length) at intermediate time-points of 1, 3, 6 and 12 months
Measured by standardized anthropometry protocols at each age
At 18 months, and (with length) at intermediate time-points of 1, 3, 6 and 12 months
To describe the Program Impact Pathways (PIP) linking implementation of each randomized intervention (WASH and IYCF) with length and hemoglobin concentrations
Time Frame: Throughout follow-up
Assessment of quality of VHW training and supervision; VHW Capacity, defined as a composite of attained knowledge, goal setting capacity, and achieved performance; Fidelity of intervention implementation, defined as degree of conformance with protocol specifications for both VHW and mother; Attained maternal knowledge and skills assessed by questionnaire and observation; Uptake or adoption of promoted behaviors by mothers and their households assessed by questionnaire and observation.
Throughout follow-up
Exclusive breastfeeding
Time Frame: First 6 months of life
To describe the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among all infants enrolled in the trial by maternal/infant HIV status.
First 6 months of life
To evaluate the effect of the IYCF intervention on uptake of improved infant feeding practices by maternal/infant HIV status
Time Frame: 6-18 months of age
Infant diet quality as assessed by World Health Organization IYCF indicators ; infant nutrient intake from complementary foods assessed by 24 hour dietary recall; appropriate use of Nutributter from 6 to 18 months.
6-18 months of age
To evaluate the effect of the WASH intervention on the 5 key behaviors it promotes by maternal/infant HIV status
Time Frame: Throughout follow-up
Proper disposal of animal and human feces; Handwashing with soap after fecal contact; Point-of-use chlorination of drinking water; Protecting children from ingestion of dirt and feces; Feeding baby freshly prepared foods, or reheating leftover food.
Throughout follow-up
Relative contributions of diarrhea vs EED
Time Frame: Birth to 18 months
To model the relative contributions of diarrheal disease and EED in mediating the effects of improved WASH on child length and hemoglobin concentrations, stratified by maternal/infant HIV status.
Birth to 18 months
To measure the strength of association between other potential causes of stunting and anemia (other than poor WASH or IYCF) with linear growth and hemoglobin
Time Frame: Throughout follow-up
Maternal schistosomiasis infection during pregnancy; Maternal HIV infection together with adherence to antiretroviral and cotrimoxazole regimens during pregnancy and lactation; Infant HIV infection or exposure, together with adherence to antiretroviral and/or cotrimoxazole regimens; Exposure to dietary mycotoxin contamination by the mother during pregnancy and lactation, and by the infant during complementary feeding.
Throughout follow-up
Infant diarrhea prevalence, incidence and severity
Time Frame: 1 month to 18 months of age
Assessed by 7-day morbidity history in all infants, and by daily morbidity diary in a subgroup of infants
1 month to 18 months of age
Child neurodevelopment
Time Frame: 24 months of age
Assessed by MacArthur-Bates Communication Developmental Inventory; Malawi Development Test (MDAT); A not B task; Delayed inhibition task; and Caregiver Child Interaction assessment in a subgroup of children
24 months of age
Prevalence of mycotoxin exposure among mothers and infants
Time Frame: Maternal samples assessed at baseline; infant samples assessed birth to 18 months
Detectable AFB1-lysine in plasma and detectable AFM1 in urine; detectable Fumonisin B1 in urine; detectable deoxynivalenol in urine; detectable zearalenone in urine; detectable ochratoxin A in urine; detectable T-2 in urine
Maternal samples assessed at baseline; infant samples assessed birth to 18 months
MAternal and infant microbiota
Time Frame: Maternal samples from baseline and 1 month postpartum; infant samples birth to 18 months of age
16S rRNA and whole genome sequencing of DNA and RNA from stool to define th composition and function of the microbial community that inhabits the human intestine.
Maternal samples from baseline and 1 month postpartum; infant samples birth to 18 months of age
Infant rotavirus vaccine and polio vaccine immunogenicity
Time Frame: 1 and 3 months of age
Measurement of rotavirus IgA titre in plasma, measurement of polio virus IgA titre in plasma
1 and 3 months of age
Adverse birth outcomes: miscarriage, still birth, small for gestational age, preterm delivery, neonatal death
Time Frame: Maternal pregnancy exposures, infant outcomes through 1 month postpartum
Association of maternal exposures during pregnancy (EED, anemia, mycotoxin exposure, HIV infection, schistosomiasis infection) on each adverse birth outcome
Maternal pregnancy exposures, infant outcomes through 1 month postpartum
Bioimpedance analysis, skinfold thicknesses and leg length measurement
Time Frame: 24 months in a subsample of infants
Assess the impact of the randomized interventions on infant body composition. analysis plan at https://osf.io/t9zd4
24 months in a subsample of infants
Observational study of WASH and non-WASH infants
Time Frame: About 14 months of age
90 WASH and 90 non-WASH infants will undergo 6 h structured observation to directly observe and assess intervention impact on hygiene behaviors
About 14 months of age
Assess metabolic pathways of pathogenesis of stunting
Time Frame: 12 month urines; longitudinal stools from 150 mother-infant pairs from 32 week gestation, and 1,3,6,12,and 18 months postpartum
Urine and stool samples analysed by untargeted metabolomics
12 month urines; longitudinal stools from 150 mother-infant pairs from 32 week gestation, and 1,3,6,12,and 18 months postpartum
Friendship Bench for treatment of depression: a pilot study
Time Frame: August 2018 - January 2019 (about a year after the end of the trial).
30 SHINE mothers will be recruited to pilot a depression intervention for feasibility and acceptability
August 2018 - January 2019 (about a year after the end of the trial).

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Wellcome Trust
Department for International Development, United Kingdom
University of London
Cornell University
Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Zimbabwe
Zvitambo

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jean H Humphrey, ScD, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 2012

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

July 1, 2017

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

July 31, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 27, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 2, 2013

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

April 5, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

July 26, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 24, 2018

Last Verified

July 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB00004205
  • R01HD060338 (NIH)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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