Malaria in pregnancy and its association with ABO blood group and Haemoglobin genotype

The prevalence of malaria among 250 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Agbonchia Health Centre Eleme, Rivers State, Nigeria was investigated using thick and thin blood film stained with Giemsa. The stained slides were examined microscopically for malaria parasites. The prevalence of malaria among the pregnant women was 40.6% and the prevalence among 50 non-pregnant women used as control was 16.0%. The prevalence of malaria by age group among the pregnant women was 36.1-46.8% from age 20-40yrs. The prevalence of malaria by haemoglobin genotype are HbAA 42.4% and HbAS 34.6%, statistically at p<0.05 there is no significant difference in the prevalence of malaria between HbAA and HbAS, but there is significant difference in the prevalence of severe malaria between HbAA and HbAS. The prevalence of malaria among ABO blood groups showed that blood group O had the highest prevalence 44.4% but minimal episode of severe malaria compared with the other blood groups. Blood group O and HbAS protects against severe malaria in pregnancy.