Correlation Between Maternal Iron Status and Susceptibility to Malarial Infection in Pregnant Women

Original Article

Abstract

Background: Malaria and anemia especially iron-deficiency anemia  are two primary maternal health complications in areas where malaria is endemic.

 Objectives: To determine the impact of maternal iron levels on the risk of malaria infection in women of childbearing age residing in malaria-endemic areas.

Methodology: This study conducted in the department of Community medicine department Khyber Medical College Peshawar from june 2023 to dec 2023. The study population of 200 pregnant women was obtained using non-probability sampling techniques. The study assessed the iron status of pregnant women  which included checking their haemoglobin  serum ferritin  serum iron concentration  and transferrin saturation levels. Malaria was diagnosed using peripheral smear and rapid diagnostic tests. The population was then analyzed to determine their iron sufficiency status and the respective group to which they belonged. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 24.0.

 Results: 80 of 200 patients. The patients had Mean age of 26.4 years  with a standard deviation of 4.8 years. The results indicated that malaria was present in 58 of the 120 iron-deficient female patients  which constituted 48.3%  with a statistical significance of 0.003. In contrast  only 22 of the 80 iron-sufficient females had malaria  resulting in an infection rate of 27.5%  with a statistical significance of 0.003. The mean hemoglobin concentration of patients with malarial infection was 9.1 ± 1.2 g/dL  while that of infected patients without malarial infection was 10.6 ± 1.4 g/dL  showing a statistically significant difference of less than 0.001. The analysis revealed a negative correlation between the amount of serum ferritin and the level of parasitemia  with a correlation coefficient of r = -0.41 and a p-value of 0.01. 

Conclusion: During iron deficiency  pregnant women have an elevated risk of malaria infection  indicating that iron supplementation strategies must be developed and tailored accordingly. Antenatal care that monitors and corrects iron deficiency will reduce the complications of malaria  particularly in areas with high malaria transmission.