SynthesisPloS one2021
A systematic review and meta-analysis of asymptomatic malaria infection in pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A challenge for malaria elimination efforts.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and associated factors of microscopy-confirmed malaria among the general population in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Malaria journal · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence and associated risk factors of asymptomatic malaria in Nigeria: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Malaria journal · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence, predictors and adverse perinatal outcomes of placental malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Pooled it
- The Burden of Asymptomatic Malaria Infection in Children in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Exploring Barriers to Elimination and Prevention.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence and associated factors of malaria among the displaced population in refugee camps in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Malaria journal · 2025Pooled it
- Malaria in pregnancy: Meta-analyses of prevalence and associated complications.Epidemiology and infection · 2024Pooled it
- Prevalence of Pregnancy Associated Malaria in India.Frontiers in global women's health · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- Time to Act; Let Us Unite to Eliminate Malaria Among Pregnant Women in War Zone From Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Review.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Diagnostic challenges of histidine-rich protein 2-based rapid diagnostic tests due to pfhrp2 and pfhrp3 gene deletions in asymptomatic malaria in Tanzania.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2026Article
- Prevalence of Malaria and Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women Visiting Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital, Southwest Ethiopia.Journal of parasitology research · 2026Article
- Prevalence of asymptomatic malaria and associated factors among pregnant women in Mogadishu, Somalia: a cross-sectional study.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Malaria in Pregnancy and Predisposing Factors in Jor District of Gambella Region, Southwest Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Assessment of Cytokines TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma, TGF-beta-1, and IL-10 in Malaria Patients of the River Nile State , Sudan: A critical study of immune response.BMC immunology · 2025Article
- Patterns of patent and sub-patent Plasmodium falciparum infections in household members of children under seasonal malaria chemoprevention coverage in the health district of Nanoro, Burkina Faso.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Unraveling global malaria incidence and mortality using machine learning and artificial intelligence-driven spatial analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Hidden reservoirs of infection: prevalence and risk factors of asymptomatic malaria in a high-endemic region of Zambia.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Malaria and anaemia prevalence and associated factors among pregnant women initiating antenatal care in two regions in Ghana: an analytical cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Current update on malaria in pregnancy: a systematic review.Tropical diseases, travel medicine and vaccines · 2025Review
- Prevalence and drivers of malaria infection among asymptomatic and symptomatic community members in five regions with varying transmission intensity in mainland Tanzania.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where malaria transmission is stable, malaria infection in pregnancy adversely affects pregnant women, fetuses, and newborns and is often asymptomatic. So far, a plethora of primary studies have been carried out on asymptomatic malaria infection in pregnant women in SSA. Nevertheless, no meta-analysis estimated the burden of asymptomatic malaria infection in pregnant women in SSA, so this meta-analysis was carried out to bridge this gap.
methodsPubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and ProQuest were systematically searched for relevant studies published until 4 August 2020, and also the expansion of the search was performed by October 24, 2020. We assessed heterogeneity among included studies using I-squared statistics (I2). Publication bias was assessed by visual inspection of the funnel plot and further quantitatively validated by Egger's and Begg's tests. The pooled prevalence and pooled odds ratio (OR) and their corresponding 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were estimated using the random-effects model in Stata 15 software.
resultsFor this meta-analysis, we included 35 eligible studies. The overall prevalence estimate of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection prevalence was 26.1%% (95%CI: 21-31.2%, I2 = 99.0%). According to species-specific pooled prevalence estimate, Plasmodium falciparum was dominant species (22.1%, 95%CI: 17.1-27.2%, I2 = 98.6%), followed by Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale, respectively, found to be 3% (95%CI: 0-5%, I2 = 88.3%), 0.8% (95%CI: 0.3-0.13%, I2 = 60.5%), and 0.2% (95%CI: -0.01-0.5%, I2 = 31.5%). Asymptomatic malaria-infected pregnant women were 2.28 times more likely anemic (OR = 2.28, 95%CI: 1.66-3.13, I2 = 56.3%) than in non-infected pregnant women. Asymptomatic malaria infection was 1.54 times higher (OR = 1.54, 95%CI: 1.28-1.85, I2 = 11.5%) in primigravida women compared to multigravida women.
conclusionIn SSA, asymptomatic malaria infection in pregnant women is prevalent, and it is associated with an increased likelihood of anemia compared to non-infected pregnant women. Thus, screening of asymptomatic pregnant women for malaria and anemia should be included as part of antenatal care.
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