Malaria parasitaemia in relation to HIV status and vitamin A supplementation among pre-school children
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Date
2003
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Publisher
Tropical Medicine & International Health
Abstract
objectives: To ascertain whether malaria parasitaemia in children is associated with HIV status.
To examine the effect of vitamin A supplementation on malaria parasitaemia in children.
methods We studied the cross-sectional associations between HIV status and malaria parasitaemia
among 546 children 6–60 months of age who participated in a double-blind, randomized clinical trial
of vitamin A supplementation. Prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated
for the presence of malaria parasites at baseline by HIV status in uni- and multivariate models that
adjusted for sociodemographic and environmental variables. Among children with malaria, correlates of
high parasite loads were identified. Next, we examined the effect of vitamin A supplementation on the
risk of malaria parasitaemia and high parasite density at 4–8 months of the first dose in a subset of
children.
Results: The prevalence of malaria parasitaemia was 11.4% among HIV-infected children,
compared with 27.6% among uninfected. After adjusting for season, anaemia, use of bednets, maternal
education and indicators of socioeconomic status, we found some evidence for lower prevalence of
parasitaemia among HIV positive compared with HIV-negative children (prevalence ratio ¼ 0.56; 95%
CI ¼ 0.29, 1.09; P ¼ 0.09). Other important correlates of malaria parasitaemia at baseline included
low level of maternal education, poor quality of water supply, and the presence of animals at home.
Vitamin A supplementation did not have a significant effect on malaria parasitaemia at 4–8 months
of follow-up, overall or within levels of potential effect modifiers.
conclusion: HIV infection appears to be negatively correlated with malaria parasitaemia in this
group of children. Investing in women’s education is likely to decrease the prevalence of malaria
parasitaemia in children. Vitamin A supplementation does not seem to have an effect on malaria
parasitaemia in this population; possible benefits against clinical episodes and severe malaria deserve
further examination.
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Keywords
Malaria, HIV, vitamin A
Citation
Villamor, E., Fataki, M.R., Mbise, R.L. and Fawzi, W.W., 2003. Malaria parasitaemia in relation to HIV status and vitamin A supplementation among pre‐school children. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 8(12), pp.1051-1061.