ArticleOpen forum infectious diseases2015
Does Iron Increase the Risk of Malaria in Pregnancy?
Article in Open forum infectious diseases, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations of maternal iron deficiency with malaria infection in a cohort of pregnant Papua New Guinean women.Malaria journal · 2022Trial
- Risk of malaria in young children after periconceptional iron supplementation.Maternal & child nutrition · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Host iron deficiency protects againstScience advances · 2026Article
- Food Insecurity and Maternal Diet Influence Human Milk Composition between the Infant's Birth and 6 Months after Birth in Central-Africa.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Seasonal patterns of malaria, genital infection, nutritional and iron status in non-pregnant and pregnant adolescents in Burkina Faso: a secondary analysis of trial data.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Factors associated with sub-microscopic placental malaria and its association with adverse pregnancy outcomes among HIV-negative women in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: a cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2020Article
- Consequences of prenatal geophagy for maternal prenatal health, risk of childhood geophagy and child psychomotor development.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2018Article
- Malaria and Iron Load at the First Antenatal Visit in the Rural South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Is Iron Supplementation Safe or Could It Be Harmful?The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2018Article
- High Iron Levels Are Associated with Increased Malaria Risk in Infants during the First Year of Life in Benin.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2017Article
- Elevated Blood Lead Levels Are Associated with Reduced Risk of Malaria in Beninese Infants.PloS one · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background. Pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM) remains a significant health concern in sub-Saharan Africa. Cross-sectional studies report that iron might be associated with increased malaria morbidity, raising fears that current iron supplementation policies will cause harm in the present context of increasing resistance against intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp). Therefore, it is necessary to assess the relation of iron levels with malaria risk during the entire pregnancy. Methods. To investigate the association of maternal iron levels on malaria risk in the context of an IPTp clinical trial, 1005 human immunodeficiency virus-negative, pregnant Beninese women were monitored throughout their pregnancy between January 2010 and May 2011. Multilevel models with random intercept at the individual levels and random slope for gestational age were used to analyze the factors associated with increased risk of a positive blood smear and increased Plasmodium falciparum density. Results. During the follow-up, 29% of the women had at least 1 episode of malaria. On average, women had 0.52 positive smears (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.44-0.60). High iron levels (measured by the log10 of ferritin corrected on inflammation) were significantly associated with increased risk of a positive blood smear (adjusted odds ratio = 1.75; 95% CI, 1.46-2.11; P < .001) and high P falciparum density (beta estimate = 0.22; 95% CI, 0.18-0.27; P < .001) during the follow-up period adjusted on pregnancy parameters, comorbidities, environmental and socioeconomic indicators, and IPTp regime. Furthermore, iron-deficient women were significantly less likely to have a positive blood smear and high P falciparum density (P < .001 in both cases). Conclusions. Iron levels were positively associated with increased PAM during pregnancy in the context of IPTp. Supplementary interventional studies are needed to determine the benefits and risks of differently dosed iron and folate supplements in malaria-endemic regions.
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