Evaluation of the CareStart™ glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) rapid diagnostic test in the field settings and assessment of perceived risk from primaquine at the community level in Cambodia

Background Primaquine is an approved radical cure treatment for Plasmodium vivax malaria but treatment can result in life-threatening hemolysis if given to a glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient (G6PDd) patient. There is a need for reliable point-of-care G6PD diagnostic tests. Objectives To evaluate the performance of the CareStart™ rapid diagnostic test (RDT) in the hands of healthcare workers (HCWs) and village malaria workers (VMWs) in field settings, and to better understand user perceptions about the risks and benefits of PQ treatment guided by RDT results. Methods This study enrolled 105 HCWs and VMWs, herein referred to as trainees, who tested 1,543 healthy adult male volunteers from 84 villages in Cambodia. The trainees were instructed on G6PD screening, primaquine case management, and completed pre and post-training questionnaires. Each trainee tested up to 16 volunteers in the field under observation by the study staff. Results Out of 1,542 evaluable G6PD volunteers, 251 (16.28%) had quantitative enzymatic activity less than 30% of an adjusted male median (8.30 U/g Hb). There was no significant difference in test sensitivity in detecting G6PDd between trainees (97.21%), expert study staff in the field (98.01%), and in a laboratory setting (95.62%) (p = 0.229); however, test specificity was different for trainees (96.62%), expert study staff in the field (98.14%), and experts in the laboratory (98.99%) (p < 0.001). Negative predictive values were not statistically different for trainees, expert staff, and laboratory testing: 99.44%, 99.61%, and 99.15%, respectively. Knowledge scores increased significantly post-training, with 98.7% willing to prescribe primaquine for P.vivax malaria, an improvement from 40.6% pre-training (p < 0.001). Conclusion This study demonstrated ability of medical staff with different background to accurately use CareStart™ RDT to identify G6PDd in male patients, which may enable safer prescribing of primaquine; however, pharmacovigilance is required to address possible G6PDd misclassifications.