Prevalence of anemia in women with asymptomatic malaria parasitemia at first antenatal care visit at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract

Background:Anemia in pregnancy in malaria endemic areas is a public health challenge that has contributed either directly or indirectly to maternal morbidity and mortality in our environment. Anemia and malaria during pregnancy are highly preventable and treatable.Objective:The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of anemia in asymptomatic malaria parasitemic women at first antenatal visit in a tertiary hospital facility.Method:The study was conducted at the antenatal clinic of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria over a three-month period. Five hundred and forty-five pregnant women were recruited after obtaining an informed consent. A structured questionnaire was administered to each participant and two thin and thick blood films were used to identify the malaria parasites and estimate density. The average of two packed cell volumes at booking was determined using two capillary tubes and read from a Hawksleys microhematocrit reader.Results:A total of 545 pregnant women participated in the study. The mean ages of primigravidas and multigravidas were 21.4 ± 3.1 and 24.3 ± 4.0 years. Two hundred and ninety (53.2%) were primigravidas while 255 (46.8%) were multigravidas. The parasite density in primigravidas was 1297 ± 1234 while that for multigravidas was 661 ± 497 (t = 7.7, P < 0.001). The prevalence of anemia in the study population was 59.6%. There was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of anemia among the primigravidas (60.3%) and the multigravidas (58.8%) (χ2 = 1.3, P = 0.08). There was a statistically significant association between severity of parasitemia and degree of anemia (χ2 = 441.1, P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant association between antimalarials use before booking and severity of parasitemia (χ2 = 36.52, P < 0.001).Conclusion:Anemia at first antenatal booking was significantly associated with malaria parasitemia. Routine screening for anemia and malaria parasites at booking, prompt parasite clearance, use of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) during pregnancy and correction of anemia can reduce the prevalence of malaria related anemia and obstetric complications associated with it.

Burden of Anemia among Pregnant Women with Asymptomatic Malaria Parasitaemia at Booking Visit in Abuja, Nigeria

“…The overall prevalence of anemia in this study is lower than reported figures of 46.2% and 69.1% from Benin City, Nigeria and Kisumu, Western Kenya [38,39] . However, the prevalence of anemia among women with malaria parasitaemia is more or less comparable to 59.6% reported from similar study group in Calabar, Nigeria [41] .Anemia was three times higher among those with malaria parasitaemia compared to those without malaria parasitaemia in this study. This direct correlation between severity of parasitaemia and anemia was noted by other researchers elsewhere [15,27,32,38,40,41] .This higher prevalence rate of anemia among women with malaria parasitaemia is attributed to increased haemolysis of parasitized red blood cells by the reticuloendothelial system in the body [4,42,43] .…”

Iron Status of Pregnant and Post-Partum Women with Malaria Parasitaemia in Aba Abia State, Nigeria

“…The prevalence of anaemia at first antenatal visit in this study was lower than 94.07% reported by Nduka et al [11]. It did not differ from 60.8% reported by Okafor et al [12]; 59.6% reported by Agan et al [13], 62.4% reported by Ogbodo et al [14] and 66% reported by Erhabor et al [15] (Tables 1 and 2). Furthermore, it was higher than 30% reported by Douamba et al [16] and 20.3% reported by Buseri et al [17].…”

Prevalence and parasite density of asymptomatic malaria parasitemia among unbooked paturients at Abakaliki, Nigeria

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] In Benin and Abakaliki the prevalence was 20% and 16% as reported by Okpere et al and Uneke et al respectively, in their research among booked antenatal women. [6,13] [7,8,11,12] The prevalence of 77.6% in this study correlated with the findings among the unbooked pregnant women as shown above, even though it is lower than that in findings in Ibadan southwest Nigeria and Calabar south-south Nigeria and higher than that in findings in Enugu southeast Nigeria and Kano northern Nigeria. The large variation in the reported prevalence of malaria parasitemia may be multifactorial.…”

“…[1] Up to 16-95.4% of asymptomatic parasitemia in pregnancy had been reported in various studies with associated maternal anemia and low birth weight. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] This study was aimed at determining the prevalence of asymptomatic malaria parasitemia among unbooked clients presenting in labor in the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki. This will help to detect those who have the problem and appropriate treatment administered in the short run and to show the enormity of the problem to help create awareness and to scale up preventive measures against this public health problem in the long run.…”