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Prevalence of malaria infection in pregnant women compared with children for tracking malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

vanEijk, Anna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1635-1289, Hill, Jenny ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1588-485X, Noor, Abdisalan M, Snow, Robert W and terKuile, Feiko ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3663-5617 (2015) 'Prevalence of malaria infection in pregnant women compared with children for tracking malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis'. Lancet Global Health, Vol 3, Issue 10, e617-e628.

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Abstract

Background

In malarious areas, pregnant women are more likely to have detectable malaria than are their non-pregnant peers, and the excess risk of infection varies with gravidity. Pregnant women attending antenatal clinic for their first visit are a potential pragmatic sentinel group to track the intensity of malaria transmission; however, the relation between malaria prevalence in children, a standard measure to estimate malaria endemicity, and pregnant women has never been compared.

Methods

We obtained data on malaria prevalence in pregnancy from the Malaria in Pregnancy Library (January, 2015) and data for children (0–59 months) were obtained from recently published work on parasite prevalence in Africa and the Malaria in Pregnancy Library. We used random effects meta-analysis to obtain a pooled prevalence ratio (PPR) of malaria in children versus pregnant women (during pregnancy, not at delivery) and by gravidity, and we used meta-regression to assess factors affecting the prevalence ratio.

Findings

We used data from 18 sources that included 57 data points. There was a strong linear relation between the prevalence of malaria infection in pregnant women and children (r=0·87, p<0·0001). Prevalence was higher in children when compared with all gravidae (PPR=1·44, 95% CI 1·29–1·62; I2=80%, 57 studies), and against multigravidae (1·94, 1·68–2·24; I2=80%, 7 studies), and marginally higher against primigravidae (1·16, 1·05–1·29; I2=48%, 8 studies). PPR was higher in areas of higher transmission.

Interpretation

Malaria prevalence in pregnant women is strongly correlated with prevalence data in children obtained from household surveys, and could provide a pragmatic adjunct to survey strategies to track trends in malaria transmission in Africa.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 310 Maternal welfare
WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 320 Child Welfare. Child Health Services.
WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 395 Health in developing countries
WC Communicable Diseases > Tropical and Parasitic Diseases > WC 750 Malaria
WC Communicable Diseases > Tropical and Parasitic Diseases > WC 765 Prevention and control
WQ Obstetrics > Pregnancy Complications > WQ 256 Infectious diseases
Faculty: Department: Clinical Sciences & International Health > Clinical Sciences Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI): https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(15)00049-2
Depositing User: Lynn Roberts-Maloney
Date Deposited: 13 Oct 2015 09:39
Last Modified: 16 Aug 2019 13:40
URI: https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/5358

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