ANAEMIA AS A COMPLICATION OF NEONATAL MALARIA IN NIGERIA

Disu EA¹ Chandramohan D²

¹ Massey Street Children Hospital, Lagos Nigeria

² London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

Objective: To determine the risk of anaemia associated with neonatal malaria among ill neonates admitted into hospital.

Methods: A one-year (Jan-Dec 1998) retrospective study of the prevalence of malaria as evidenced by a positive malaria parasite smear (MPS) and anaemia (haemoglobin concentration less than 10mg/dl) among all ill in-patient neonatal admissions to Massey Street Children Hospital was carried using data obtained from hospital case-notes.

Result: The study revealed a neonatal malaria prevalence of 9.1% (91/1004) (95% CI 7.4,11.1). A strong association between malaria and anaemia was found. The Mantle-Haenzel weighted odds ratio was 2.8 (95%CI 1.9, 6.52). The likelihood of anaemia was found to be about thrice in ill babies with positive (MPS) compared to ill babies without.

Conclusion: Malaria in neonates in endemic areas was thought to be rare. However in recent times, some workers have revealed a rising prevalence. If in the first month of life, almost 10% of ill neonates have malaria and also thrice the risk of anaemia as this study reveals, an increased morbidity and mortality would be expected to occur later in infancy as transplacentally acquired immunity becomes depicted.

Prospective studies are required to ascertain the true prevalence of malaria and anaemia in the neonatal period and their implications on infant morbidity and mortality. This study has revealed areas of knowledge gaps for further research.

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