Contribution of malaria and sickle cell disease to anaemia among children aged 6–59 months in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study using data from the 2018 Demographic and Health Survey

Chao, Dennis L, Oron, Assaf P, Chabot-Couture, Guillaume, Sopekan, Alayo, Nnebe-Agumadu, Uche, Bates, Imelda ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0862-8199, Piel, Frédéric B and Nnodu, Obiageli (2022) 'Contribution of malaria and sickle cell disease to anaemia among children aged 6–59 months in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study using data from the 2018 Demographic and Health Survey'. BMJ Open, Vol 12, Issue 11, e063369.

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Abstract

Objectives: To estimate the fraction of anaemia attributable to malaria and sickle cell disease (SCD) among children aged 6–59 months in Nigeria. Design: Cross-sectional analysis of data from Nigeria’s 2018 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).

Setting: Nigeria. Participants: 11 536 children aged 6–59 months from randomly selected households were eligible for participation, of whom 11 142 had complete and valid biomarker data required for this analysis. Maternal education data were available from 10 305 of these children. Primary outcome measure: Haemoglobin concentration.

Results: We found that 70.6% (95% CI: 62.7% to 78.5%) of severe anaemia was attributable to malaria compared with 12.4% (95% CI: 11.1% to 13.7%) of mild-to-severe and 29.6% (95% CI: 29.6% to 31.8%) of moderate-to-severe anaemia and that SCD contributed 0.6% (95% CI: 0.4% to 0.9%), 1.3% (95% CI: 1.0% to 1.7%) and 10.6% (95% CI: 6.7% to 14.9%) mild-to-severe, moderate-to-severe and severe anaemia, respectively. Sickle trait was protective against anaemia and was associated with higher haemoglobin concentration compared with children with normal haemoglobin (HbAA) among malaria-positive but not malaria-negative children.

Conclusions: This approach used offers a new tool to estimate the contribution of malaria to anaemia in many settings using widely available DHS data. The fraction of anaemia among young children in Nigeria attributable to malaria and SCD is higher at more severe levels of anaemia. Prevention of malaria and SCD and timely treatment of affected individuals would reduce cases of severe anaemia.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WC Communicable Diseases > Tropical and Parasitic Diseases > WC 750 Malaria WH Hemic and Lymphatic Systems > Hematologic Diseases. Immunologic Factors. Blood Banks > WH 120 Hematologic diseases (General or not elsewhere classified) WH Hemic and Lymphatic Systems > Hematologic Diseases. Immunologic Factors. Blood Banks > WH 155 Anemia WS Pediatrics > Diseases of Children and Adolescents > By System > WS 300 Hemic and lymphatic system WS Pediatrics > By Age Groups > WS 430 Infancy WS Pediatrics > By Age Groups > WS 440 Preschool child
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > International Public Health Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-063369
SWORD Depositor:	JISC Pubrouter
Depositing User:	JISC Pubrouter
Date Deposited:	20 Dec 2022 13:18
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2022 13:18
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/21523

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