Severe malaria and death risk factors among children under 5 years at Jason Sendwe Hospital in Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

IntroductionMalaria is still a major public health concern in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its morbidity and mortality challenge the actual strategies of the fight agains malaria. This study was aimed to describe the epidemiology, the clinical caracteristics and the risk factors of death associated to severe malaria in the pediatric population under 5 years at Sendwe Hospital of Lubumbashi.MethodsThis analytical retrospective study was conducted in Lubumbashi, in the province of Haut-Katanga. All patients under 5 years hospitalized for severe malaria were registered from January 2014 to December 2016.ResultsAmong the 3,092 patients hospitalised during our study period, 452 (14.6%) were admitted for severe malaria. The average age was 27.04 months, the male sex was the most affected (53.54% with the sex-ratio 1.15). The most frequent forms of gravity noticed were cerebral malaria (48.23%) and severe anemia (46.90%). Death was noted in the evolution in 28.32%. Repeated convulsion (OR = 2.27; 95% CI: 1.47-3.48), coma (OR = 3.55; 95% CI: 2.19-5.74) and severe acute malnutrition (OR = 3.32; 95% CI: 1.56-7.06) were asscociated with a high risk of death.ConclusionThis research shows that severe malaria is still an important cause of morbidity and mortality among young children in Lubumbashi. Neurologic and anemic forms are the most frequent. The predictive signs of death are: repeated convulsions, coma and severe acute malnutrition.

Molecular detection and species identification of Plasmodium spp. infection in adults in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A population-based study

“…Previous studies have shown that people who are at high risk of mortality due to malaria are pregnant women, children under five years of age, immune-compromised patients, and travelers from non-endemic areas into malaria-endemic regions [9][10][11][12]. Therefore, various studies assessing the efficiency of different strategies for malaria control in the DRC mostly focused on these at-risk groups, especially children under five years of age [13][14][15][16]. Adults were reported to receive more mosquito bites and thereby constitute a potential infectious reservoir [17].…”

Malaria Case Fatality Rate among Children under Five in Burkina Faso: An Assessment of the Spatiotemporal Trends Following the Implementation of Control Programs

“…The health districts are uneven vis-à-vis the availability of these means for supportive treatment. Finally, other poor prognostic factors such as acute malnutrition [62,72] cannot be suppressed in an emergency. In addition, the disparities between health districts observed in the present study could be partly explained by other health programs.…”

Factors influencing severity of recurrent malaria in a conflict-affected State of south Sudan

“…In low-transmission settings in Africa, it was estimated that on average a person might have 1-3 episodes of malaria infection in a year (20). Also, a severe malaria study nding showed that mortality increased with repeated convulsion (21). With severe recurrent malaria, the chance of repeated convulsion is higher and thus increases in mortality.…”