Authors: Ifeanyichukwu MO, Okezie BN, Obi E.
This study was carried out to determine the effect of malaria infection in pregnancy on some inflammatory and haematological indices. It was carried out at the ante natal clinic of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi. Two hundred and sixty two subjects were recruited comprising: Two hundred and six pregnant women who tested positive to malaria infection and fifty-six who tested negative to malaria infection. C-reactive (CRP), Complements 3 and 4 (C3 and C4), were determined using turbidimetric method, haematological parameters were done using automation method and malaria infection was determined using Giemsa staining technique. Pearson correlation was used to test for relations while Student t-Test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze significance of differences in mean values between groups and among groups respectively. The C3 and C4 were significantly reduced in pregnant women infected with malaria parasite when compared with control (P<0.05 in each case). The C3 did not show any significant difference among the trimesters (P>0.05 in each case). However, C4 was significantly reduced in pregnant women with malaria infection in their first and third trimesters when compared with the second trimesters (P<0.05 in each case). The CRP was significantly higher in malaria infected pregnant women than the control (P<0.05). Malaria infected pregnant women in their second and third trimesters showed a significant higher CRP value when compared with the first trimester (P<0.05 in each case). The haematocrite (HCT), and haemoglobin (Hb) levels of malaria infected pregnant women were significantly lower when compared with the control (P<0.05 in each case). The other haematological parameters (red blood cell (RBC), and mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC)) showed no significant difference between pregnant women infected with malaria and the control (p >0.05 in each cases). There was an observed significant correlation between C3 and HCT, Hb, and RBC but C4 and CRP showed no significant correlation with any of the haematological indices. In conclusion there was reduced CRP and C3 and C4 and also HCT and Hb in malaria infected pregnant women in comparison with control subjects. The RBC and MCHC showed significant difference.
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