Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27151400›Full record

ReviewCirculation research2016

The Malaria-High Blood Pressure Hypothesis.

Anthony O Etyang, Liam Smeeth, J Kennedy Cruickshank, J Anthony G Scott

Open access · hybridAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Circulation research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
5.1field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Clinical Findings in Migrants With AsymptomaticOpen forum infectious diseases · 2025
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Immune and inflammatory mechanisms in hypertension.Nature reviews. Cardiology · 2024
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Anthony O EtyangFrom the Department of Epidemiology and Demography, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Program, Kilifi, Kenya (A.O.E., J.A.G.S.); Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology (A.O.E., J.A.G.S.), and Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology (L.S.), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; and Cardiovascular Medicine Group, Division of Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences, King's College, London, United Kingdom (J.K.C.). aetyang@kemri-wellcome.org.
Liam SmeethFrom the Department of Epidemiology and Demography, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Program, Kilifi, Kenya (A.O.E., J.A.G.S.); Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology (A.O.E., J.A.G.S.), and Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology (L.S.), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; and Cardiovascular Medicine Group, Division of Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences, King's College, London, United Kingdom (J.K.C.).
J Kennedy CruickshankFrom the Department of Epidemiology and Demography, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Program, Kilifi, Kenya (A.O.E., J.A.G.S.); Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology (A.O.E., J.A.G.S.), and Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology (L.S.), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; and Cardiovascular Medicine Group, Division of Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences, King's College, London, United Kingdom (J.K.C.).
J Anthony G ScottFrom the Department of Epidemiology and Demography, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Program, Kilifi, Kenya (A.O.E., J.A.G.S.); Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology (A.O.E., J.A.G.S.), and Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology (L.S.), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; and Cardiovascular Medicine Group, Division of Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences, King's College, London, United Kingdom (J.K.C.).
Kenya Medical Research Institute · KE

Funding

Medical Research Council MC_EX_G0701943Medical Research Council MR/K006584/1Medical Research Council MR/N015959/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

rationaleSeveral studies have demonstrated links between infectious diseases and cardiovascular conditions. Malaria and hypertension are widespread in many low- and middle-income countries, but the possible link between them has not been considered.

objectiveIn this article, we outline the basis for a possible link between malaria and hypertension and discuss how the hypothesis could be confirmed or refuted. METHODS AND

resultsWe reviewed published literature on factors associated with hypertension and checked whether any of these were also associated with malaria. We then considered various study designs that could be used to test the hypothesis. Malaria causes low birth weight, malnutrition, and inflammation, all of which are associated with hypertension in high-income countries. The hypothetical link between malaria and hypertension can be tested through the use of ecological, cohort, or Mendelian randomization studies, each of which poses specific challenges.

conclusionsConfirmation of the existence of a causative link with malaria would be a paradigm shift in efforts to prevent and control hypertension and would stimulate wider research on the links between infectious and noncommunicable disease.

Indexed as

HumansHypertensionMalariaarterial stiffnessblood pressureepidemiologyinflammationmalaria

Identifiers

PMID27151400
PMCPMC4920207
OpenAlexW2346281268

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.