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Title: | Plasmodium falciparum malaria during pregnancy: the impact of parasitaemia and anaemia on birthweight |
Authors: | Abbas, Dawood Ackom Mutala, Abdul-Hakim Agordzo, Samuel Kekeli Owusu, Christian Kwasi Lawson, Bernard Walter Lartekwei Badu, Kingsley |
Keywords: | pregnant women malaria anaemia low birthweight Sulphadoxinepyrimethamine, Ghana |
Issue Date: | Aug-2021 |
Abstract: | Malaria in pregnancy remains a major problem of public health concern in Sub-Saharan
Africa due to its endemicity and the diverse consequences on both the mother and the baby.
Much attention, therefore, is needed to fully understand the epidemiology of the disease and
to mitigate the devastating outcomes. The present study aimed at investigating malaria in
pregnancy, its adverse effects on pregnant women and the impact on birthweight of babies. A
total of 222 pregnant women gave their consent and were recruited into the study during their
routine Antenatal care visits. This study employed a combination of cross-sectional and
longitudinal cohort study designs. For 122 women in the cross-sectional arm, blood samples
and data were obtained once, whilst 100 women in the longitudinal cohort arm were followed
up from recruitment until delivery. Demographic information, obstetric history and risk
factors were obtained by administering questionnaires. About 1.0 ml of venous blood was
drawn to determine malaria parasitaemia and anaemia status of the participants. The
birthweights of the babies were also taken at delivery. The prevalence of malaria and anaemia
was 19.8% and 27.0% respectively at registration for all 222 participants. All infections were
P. falciparum malaria. One hundred and forty-six (65.8%) of participants had ITN but only
72 (32.4%) used it the previous night. Young age and rural settings were risk factors for
malaria. Young age and malaria positive pregnant women had increased risk of anaemia. In
the follow-up group which ended with 54 participants, the overall prevalence of malaria and
anaemia were 18.7% and 32.4% respectively. Fifty-two (96.3%) of pregnant women attended
ANC ≥ 4 times and 55.6% took ≥ 3 doses of SP. There were two cases of miscarriage. Low
birthweight occurred in 5.6% of babies. Both malaria and anaemia during pregnancy had no
significant impact on birthweight of the babies. Although few of the babies had low
birthweight, this number can be further reduced when pregnant women attend ANC and take
SP at the recommended number of times. |
Description: | This article is published and is also availablehttps://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.12.21261986; at |
URI: | 10.1101/2021.08.12.21261986 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/15265 |
Appears in Collections: | College of Science
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