Altered total cholesterol and triglyceride levels during the course of Plasmodium falciparum infection in children

Abstract

Changes of lipid parameter concentrations are observed in patients suffering from malaria. However, there are few data on their evolution during the course of the infection and their relationship with the infection parameters. The levels of triglycerides (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) were measured during and after uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in 122 children. The relationship with the antimalarial drug treatment, the parasite density and haemoglobin levels was also assessed. Mean TG levels were high before the treatment (1.9 ± 1.2 mmol/L) and at day 3 post-treatment (2.3 ± 1.3 mmol/L), then subsequently decreased to reach normal level from day 7. A negative correlation was found between haemoglobin (Hb) levels and TG (rho = -0.47; p < 0.01); previous high parasitaemia at inclusion was associated with a subsequent increase of TG levels after treatment administration. The majority of patients with hypertriglyceridemia were anaemic at day 3 (n = 20/20) and at day 7 (n = 18/19). Only 5 (4.1%) patients had hypertriglyceridemia at day 28. A trend toward a negative correlation between TC levels and parasite density was observed (rho = -0.18; p = 0.05). Mean TC concentration was significantly lower at day 0 when all the patients were parasitaemic (3.0 ± 1.0 mmol/L) compared to day 3 (3.7 ± 1.2 mmol/L) (p = 0.01). Mean CT was low during the first week and at day 28, 71 (58.2%) children still had a subnormal CT levels. No relationship was found with the type of antimalarial drug. Transient hypertriglyceridemia and hypocholesterolemia are observed during the course of P. falciparum infection. High TG levels seem to be related to the malaria related haemolysis.

Malaria parasitemia and its association with lipid and hematological parameters among malaria-infected patients attending at Metema Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia

“…The other hypothesis is that TG is derived from the phospholipids of RBC membrane following hemolysis and hypertriglyceridemia is described in disease with hemophagocytosis although not investigated. 48 In contrast to our study, a study in Nigeria showed that TC and TG cholesterols of malaria-infected patients and controls showed no significant differences but were similar to our findings of serum LDL and HDL (P< 0.05) of malariainfected patients, which were below reference intervals. 49,50 The decreased HDL might be due to reduction in the transport of cholesterol, esterification by lecithin cholesterol acyl transferase, and inhibition of liver enzyme by a parasite factor.…”

Co-Morbidly of Malaria and Typhoid Perturbs Lipid Homeostasis in Humans

“…In contrast to cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia was observed in plasma. Our observation of increased plasma TAG in malaria patients agrees with the observation of other researchers [32,33]. The observed parasite-induced plasma hypertriacylglycerolemia in this study could be the result of either elevated VLDL biosynthesis or reduced VLDL elimination [34].…”

Serum Lipids and Lipoproteins During Uncomplicated Malaria: A Cohort Study in Lambaréné, Gabon

“…In accordance, previous studies and a recent metaanalysis showed congruent lipid profile changes during malaria infection. [2][3][4][5]7,8,10,11,13,14,24,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] The meta-analysis (2013) was updated with the data of the present study, further strengthening the findings of that study. 7 The extent of these serum lipid profile changes was not related to parasitemia, in contrast to three other studies.…”