ArticleMalaria journal2021
The effect of malaria on haemoglobin concentrations: a nationally representative household fixed-effects study of 17,599 children under 5 years of age in Burkina Faso.
Article in Malaria journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations Between Climate-Sensitive Nutrients, Clinical Malaria, and Anaemia Among Young Children in Rural Burkina Faso: An Analysis of Baseline Data From a Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2026Trial
- Estimating Causal Effects of Malaria Infection on Anaemia Among Children Under Five Years in Uganda: Evidence From a Cross-Sectional Malaria Indicator Survey.Health science reports · 2026Article
- When undernutrition meets overweight: prevalence and determinants of double burden of malnutrition among women-child pairs in Burkina Faso from the 2021 Demographic and Health Survey.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Spatial epidemiology of malaria by bed net utilization in 19 sub-Saharan African countries: a DHS-based study (2013-2023).Malaria journal · 2026Article
- Malaria prevalence and its determinants across 19 sub-Saharan African countries: a spatial and geographically weighted regression analysis.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Factors associated with malaria infection in under-5 children in Papua Province, Indonesia: an observational study.Osong public health and research perspectives · 2024Article
- Haematological Profile in Patients With Acute Falciparum Malaria: A Hospital-Based Study.Cureus · 2024Article
- Erythrocyte sedimentation rate and red blood cell indices association in pediatrics patients with fever and cough: A cross-sectional study.Health science reports · 2024Article
- Dysfunction of CD169Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- The Effect of Fresh Moringa Leaf Consumption During Pregnancy on Maternal Hemoglobin Level in Southern Ethiopia: Multilevel Analysis of a Comparative Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of women's health · 2023Article
- Individual and Contextual Factors Associated With Malaria Among Children 6-59 Months in Burkina Faso.International journal of public health · 2023Article
- Bayesian spatio-temporal modelling and mapping of malaria and anaemia among children between 0 and 59 months in Nigeria.Malaria journal · 2022Article
- The effect of malaria on childhood anemia in a quasi-experimental study of 7,384 twins from 23 Sub-Saharan African countries.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Malaria Infection, Parasitemia, and Hemoglobin Levels in Febrile Patients Attending Sibu Sire Health Facilities, Western Ethiopia.BioMed research international · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough the association between malaria and anaemia is widely studied in patient cohorts, the population-representative causal effects of malaria on anaemia remain unknown. This study estimated the malaria-induced decrease in haemoglobin levels among young children in malaria-endemic Burkina Faso.
methodsThe study was based on pooled individual-level nationally representative health survey data (2010-2011, 2014, 2017-2018) from 17 599 children under 5 years of age. This data was used to estimate the effects of malaria on haemoglobin concentration, controlling for household fixed-effects, age, and sex in a series of regression analyses. The fixed-effects controlled for observed and unobserved confounding on the household level and allowed to determine the impact of malaria infection status on haemoglobin levels and anaemia prevalence. Furthermore, the diagnostic results from microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests were leveraged to provide a quasi-longitudinal perspective of acute and prolonged effects after malaria infection.
resultsThe prevalence of both malaria (survey prevalence ranging from 17.4% to 65.2%) and anaemia (survey prevalence ranging from 74% to 88.2%) was very high in the included surveys. Malaria was estimated to significantly reduce haemoglobin levels, with an overall effect of - 7.5 g/dL (95% CI - 8.5, - 6.5). Acute malaria resulted in a - 7.7 g/dL (95% CI - 8.8, - 6.6) decrease in haemoglobin levels. Recent malaria without current parasitaemia decreased haemoglobin concentration by - 7.1 g/dL (95% CI - 8.3, - 5.9). The in-sample predicted prevalence of severe anaemia was 9.4% among malaria positives, but only 2.2% among children without malaria.
conclusionMalaria infection has a strong detrimental effect on haemoglobin levels among young children in Burkina Faso. This effect seems to carry over even after acute infection, indicating prolonged haemoglobin reductions even after successful parasite-elimination. The quasi-experimental fixed-effect approach adds a population level perspective to existing clinical evidence.
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