The relationship between helminth infections and low haemoglobin levels in Ethiopian children with blood type A

Abstract

The current study was conducted to evaluate the nature of association of ABO blood type with helminth infection and related reduction in haemoglobin concentration. Stool samples were collected from 403 school-age children attending Tikur Wuha Elementary School from February to April 2011. Helminth infection was examined using formol-ether concentration and thick Kato-Katz (two slides per stool specimen) techniques. Haemoglobin level was determined using a HemoCue machine and ABO blood type was determined using the antisera haemagglutination test. Nutritional status was assessed using height and weight measurements. Out of 403 children examined, 169, 120, 96 and 18 had blood type O, A, B and AB, respectively. The prevalences of helminth infections were 46.9% for hookworm, 24.6% for Schistosoma mansoni, 4.2% for Ascaris lumbricoides, 1.7% for Trichuris trichiura and 58.3% for any helminth species. The relative odds of infection with at least one helminth species was significantly higher among children with blood type A (adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 2.10; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.28-3.45) or blood type B (AOR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.22-3.56) as compared to children with blood type O. Among children infected with helminths, mean haemoglobin concentration was lower in those with blood type A than those with blood type O (β, -0.36; 95% CI, -0.72 to -0.01). The relative odds of hookworm infection (AOR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.08-2.92) and related reduction in haemogobin levels (β, -0.45; 95% CI, -0.84 to -0.04) was higher among children with blood type A as compared to those with blood type O. Although the difference was not significant, the relative odds of S. mansoni or A. lumbricoides infections and related reduction in haemoglobin levels was also higher in children with blood type A or B as compared to children with blood type O. In conclusion, children with blood type A are associated with an increased risk of helminth, particularly hookworm, infection and related reduction in haemoglobin level. The mechanisms by which blood type A makes children susceptible to helminth infection and a related reduction in haemoglobin level ought to be investigated.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence and predictors of anemia among children in Ethiopia

“…From a total of 69 full text studies accessed, we removed nine of them because the outcome of interest was not mentioned and/or they were conducted in other nations which are not the location of interest of the review; these studies were conducted in Africa 69,70 , Tanzania 71,72 , Malawi 73 , Nigeria [74][75][76] and Mali 77 . In addition, 20 full text articles [78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97] that have been carried out from different parts of Ethiopia were excluded because their outcome measures were not prevalence of anemia in children, and they were conducted in the adult population which is not the population of interest of the this meta-analysis. Moreover, one full text article 98 was excluded because of duplicated publications of our result of interest in different journals (see additional file 3).…”

ABO blood group antigens may be associated with increased susceptibility to schistosomiasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The initial search yielded a total of 43 studies that were thoroughly checked. After omitting duplicates and irrelevant studies following the set inclusion criteria, a total of 10 articles were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis (Pereira et al , 1979; Trangle et al , 1979; Kassim and Ejezie, 1982; Deribew et al , 2012; Degarege et al , 2014, 2015, 2017; Igbeneghu and Olisekodiaka, 2014; Addisu and Tekeste, 2016; Igbeneghu et al , 2018).

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“…Overall, the total sample size from the 10 publications covered is 6472, with a wide range of total sample sizes across all the studies (200 to 2310). Subjects in nine of the articles were predominantly of sub-Saharan African origin (Trangle et al , 1979; Kassim and Ejezie, 1982; Deribew et al , 2012; Degarege et al , 2014, 2015, 2017; Igbeneghu and Olisekodiaka, 2014; Addisu and Tekeste, 2016; Igbeneghu et al , 2018), whereas one was of Western origin (Pereira et al , 1979). As for the method of Schistosoma identification, four studies performed stool microscopy (Degarege et al , 2014, 2015, 2017; Addisu and Tekeste, 2016), another four performed urine microscopy (Kassim and Ejezie, 1982; Deribew et al , 2012; Igbeneghu and Olisekodiaka, 2014; Igbeneghu et al , 2018), one performed both stool and urine microscopy (Trangle et al , 1979), and another performed tissue biopsy (Pereira et al , 1979).…”

“…Subjects in nine of the articles were predominantly of sub-Saharan African origin (Trangle et al , 1979; Kassim and Ejezie, 1982; Deribew et al , 2012; Degarege et al , 2014, 2015, 2017; Igbeneghu and Olisekodiaka, 2014; Addisu and Tekeste, 2016; Igbeneghu et al , 2018), whereas one was of Western origin (Pereira et al , 1979). As for the method of Schistosoma identification, four studies performed stool microscopy (Degarege et al , 2014, 2015, 2017; Addisu and Tekeste, 2016), another four performed urine microscopy (Kassim and Ejezie, 1982; Deribew et al , 2012; Igbeneghu and Olisekodiaka, 2014; Igbeneghu et al , 2018), one performed both stool and urine microscopy (Trangle et al , 1979), and another performed tissue biopsy (Pereira et al , 1979). The majority (9 out of 10 studies) of the participants in the study were recruited from a population-based setting (Trangle et al , 1979; Kassim and Ejezie, 1982; Deribew et al , 2012; Degarege et al , 2014, 2015, 2017; Igbeneghu and Olisekodiaka, 2014; Addisu and Tekeste, 2016; Igbeneghu et al , 2018).…”

“…As for the method of Schistosoma identification, four studies performed stool microscopy (Degarege et al , 2014, 2015, 2017; Addisu and Tekeste, 2016), another four performed urine microscopy (Kassim and Ejezie, 1982; Deribew et al , 2012; Igbeneghu and Olisekodiaka, 2014; Igbeneghu et al , 2018), one performed both stool and urine microscopy (Trangle et al , 1979), and another performed tissue biopsy (Pereira et al , 1979). The majority (9 out of 10 studies) of the participants in the study were recruited from a population-based setting (Trangle et al , 1979; Kassim and Ejezie, 1982; Deribew et al , 2012; Degarege et al , 2014, 2015, 2017; Igbeneghu and Olisekodiaka, 2014; Addisu and Tekeste, 2016; Igbeneghu et al , 2018). NOS scoring showed the mean and standard deviation to be 5.5 ± 0.5, with a median of 6, indicating that the included studies were of moderate quality.…”