Prevalence of Plasmodium Falciparum Among Pregnant Women attending Antenatal Clinics in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Ba

Introduction: Malaria in pregnancy is a major public health problem in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. We aimed to study the prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Osogbo, Osun State.

Methods: It was a cross-sectional study with a total of 243 pregnant women involved. Ethical approval was sought and given. Blood samples were obtained for both thick and thin film, stained with Giemsa stain and examined for Plasmodium parasitaemia. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 17.0 windows version). The statistical significance of variables was estimated using the Chi-square test. Pearson correlation analysis was used to establish a possible correlation of prevalence with parity, age, and trimester. P-value equal to or less than 0.05 was taken as significant.

Results: One hundred and thirty-one (53.9%) of the women had Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia. Those within the age group 21-25 years had the highest prevalence of infection (68.8%), while the highest rate of infection (65.8%) was observed among primigravid. A majority (71.2%) of the women who had malaria were in their first trimester.

Conclusion: Malaria parasitaemia in pregnancy is still prevalent in our community, and is more so in young primigravid and in early pregnancy.

ckground: Malaria infection during pregnancy is a major public health problem in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. We studied the prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Osogbo, Osun State.

Methods: A total of 243 pregnant women were sampled for prevalence of malaria after the calculation of sample size. Blood samples smear both thick and thin were stained with Giemsa stain and examined. The data generated on the prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum was analyzed using statistical programme for service solution (SPSS 17.0 windows version). The statistical significance of variables was estimated using Chi-square test. Pearson correlation analysis was used to establish possible correlation of prevalence with parity, age, trimester. P-values of equal to or less than 0.05 was taken as measures of significance.

Results: Of 243 pregnant women examined, 131 were infected with overall prevalence of 51.3%. Age group 21-25 years had the highest prevalence of infection (68.8%) while the low prevalence of (20%) was in 41-45 years. The highest rate of infection (65.8%) was also observed among primigravid while multigravid had low infection rate of (43.0%). The highest prevalence of malaria (71.2%) was also recorded in the first semester among the pregnant women in the study.

Conclusion: Effective case management in both diagnosis and treatment of malaria is therefore advocated in the first trimester of pregnancy.