The effect of malaria infection on some hematological parameters of pregnant women in nnewi, anambra state, Nigeria
International Journal of Development Research
The effect of malaria infection on some hematological parameters of pregnant women in nnewi, anambra state, Nigeria
Received 05th July, 2018; Received in revised form 30th August, 2018; Accepted 18th September, 2018; Published online 29th October, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Ogbodo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This study was designed to assess the effect of malaria infection on some haematological parameters of pregnant women in Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria. A total of 100 participants aged between 18 and 36 (25±4) years were randomly recruited for the study. The participants were grouped as follows: 50 pregnant women and 50 non pregnant women. Thereafter, 5mls each of blood samples were collected from the participants for the determination of malaria parasites, hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), and white blood cell (WBC) levels using standard laboratory methods. The results showed that Hb and PCV levels were significantly lower in pregnant women and malaria infected pregnant women respectively (p<0.05). However, neutrophil levels were significantly higher in pregnant women as well as malaria infected pregnant women than in the control respectively (p<0.05). Also, WBC and neutrophil levels were significantly higher in malaria infected pregnant women in their first trimester than in control respectively (p<0.05). The implication of these findings is that both malaria infection and pregnancy have effect on some haematological parameters in women.
