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Asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and anaemia among children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study
BACKGROUND: Asymptomatic malaria can be observed in both stable endemic areas and unstable transmission areas. However, although much attention has been given to acute malaria infections, relatively little attention has been paid to asymptomatic malaria. Nonetheless, because the asymptomatic host se...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5070163/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27756399 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1548-3 |
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author | Akiyama, Takeshi Pongvongsa, Tiengkham Phrommala, Souraxay Taniguchi, Tomoyo Inamine, Yuba Takeuchi, Rie Watanabe, Tadashi Nishimoto, Futoshi Moji, Kazuhiko Kano, Shigeyuki Watanabe, Hisami Kobayashi, Jun |
author_facet | Akiyama, Takeshi Pongvongsa, Tiengkham Phrommala, Souraxay Taniguchi, Tomoyo Inamine, Yuba Takeuchi, Rie Watanabe, Tadashi Nishimoto, Futoshi Moji, Kazuhiko Kano, Shigeyuki Watanabe, Hisami Kobayashi, Jun |
author_sort | Akiyama, Takeshi |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Asymptomatic malaria can be observed in both stable endemic areas and unstable transmission areas. However, although much attention has been given to acute malaria infections, relatively little attention has been paid to asymptomatic malaria. Nonetheless, because the asymptomatic host serves as a reservoir for the malaria parasite, asymptomatic malaria is now recognized as an important obstacle to malaria elimination. Asymptomatic malaria is also associated with anaemia, a global public health problem with serious consequences on human health as well as social and economic development. In Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), malaria, anaemia, and malnutrition are serious public health concerns. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between these variables. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and the prevalence of anaemia among children aged 120 months old or younger in rural villages in Lao PDR. METHODS: In December 2010 and March 2011, data were collected from five villages in Savannakhet province. Anthropometric measurements, blood samples, and malaria rapid diagnostic tests were conducted. The presence of malaria was confirmed with polymerase chain reaction assays for Plasmodium falciparum. Underweight status, stunting, and anaemia were defined according to World Health Organization standards. RESULTS: The mean age of participants (n = 319) was 88.3 months old (Standard Deviation: 20.6, ranged from 30–119 months old), and 20 participants (6.3 %) had an asymptomatic malaria infection, 92 (28.8 %) were anaemic, 123 (38.6 %) were underweight, and 137 (42.9 %) were stunted. Stunted children were more likely to be infected with asymptomatic malaria [odds ratio (OR) 3.34, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.25–8.93], and asymptomatic malaria was associated with anaemia [OR 5.17, 95 % CI 1.99–13.43]. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest a significant association between asymptomatic malaria and anaemia in children. Furthermore, stunted children were more likely to have lower Hb levels and to be infected with asymptomatic malaria than children without stunting. However, further studies examining the impact of asymptomatic malaria infection on children’s nutritional and development status are necessary. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5070163 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-50701632016-10-24 Asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and anaemia among children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study Akiyama, Takeshi Pongvongsa, Tiengkham Phrommala, Souraxay Taniguchi, Tomoyo Inamine, Yuba Takeuchi, Rie Watanabe, Tadashi Nishimoto, Futoshi Moji, Kazuhiko Kano, Shigeyuki Watanabe, Hisami Kobayashi, Jun Malar J Research BACKGROUND: Asymptomatic malaria can be observed in both stable endemic areas and unstable transmission areas. However, although much attention has been given to acute malaria infections, relatively little attention has been paid to asymptomatic malaria. Nonetheless, because the asymptomatic host serves as a reservoir for the malaria parasite, asymptomatic malaria is now recognized as an important obstacle to malaria elimination. Asymptomatic malaria is also associated with anaemia, a global public health problem with serious consequences on human health as well as social and economic development. In Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), malaria, anaemia, and malnutrition are serious public health concerns. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between these variables. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and the prevalence of anaemia among children aged 120 months old or younger in rural villages in Lao PDR. METHODS: In December 2010 and March 2011, data were collected from five villages in Savannakhet province. Anthropometric measurements, blood samples, and malaria rapid diagnostic tests were conducted. The presence of malaria was confirmed with polymerase chain reaction assays for Plasmodium falciparum. Underweight status, stunting, and anaemia were defined according to World Health Organization standards. RESULTS: The mean age of participants (n = 319) was 88.3 months old (Standard Deviation: 20.6, ranged from 30–119 months old), and 20 participants (6.3 %) had an asymptomatic malaria infection, 92 (28.8 %) were anaemic, 123 (38.6 %) were underweight, and 137 (42.9 %) were stunted. Stunted children were more likely to be infected with asymptomatic malaria [odds ratio (OR) 3.34, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.25–8.93], and asymptomatic malaria was associated with anaemia [OR 5.17, 95 % CI 1.99–13.43]. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest a significant association between asymptomatic malaria and anaemia in children. Furthermore, stunted children were more likely to have lower Hb levels and to be infected with asymptomatic malaria than children without stunting. However, further studies examining the impact of asymptomatic malaria infection on children’s nutritional and development status are necessary. BioMed Central 2016-10-18 /pmc/articles/PMC5070163/ /pubmed/27756399 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1548-3 Text en © The Author(s) 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Akiyama, Takeshi Pongvongsa, Tiengkham Phrommala, Souraxay Taniguchi, Tomoyo Inamine, Yuba Takeuchi, Rie Watanabe, Tadashi Nishimoto, Futoshi Moji, Kazuhiko Kano, Shigeyuki Watanabe, Hisami Kobayashi, Jun Asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and anaemia among children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study |
title | Asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and anaemia among children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study |
title_full | Asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and anaemia among children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study |
title_fullStr | Asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and anaemia among children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study |
title_full_unstemmed | Asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and anaemia among children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study |
title_short | Asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and anaemia among children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: a cross-sectional study |
title_sort | asymptomatic malaria, growth status, and anaemia among children in lao people’s democratic republic: a cross-sectional study |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5070163/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27756399 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12936-016-1548-3 |
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