ArticleBMJ open2022
Prenatal malaria exposure and risk of adverse birth outcomes: a prospective cohort study of pregnant women in the Northern Region of Ghana.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- FIGO good practice recommendations on preconception care: A strategy to prevent preterm birth.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2025Guideline
- Predictors and prevalence of perinatal mortality in Ghana: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling to Investigate Piperaquine Exposure in Pregnant Women Using an Individualized Profile Approach.Clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- The effect of maternal infections on birth outcomes at King Abdulaziz medical city: a retrospective cohort study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Prevalence, Associated Risk Factors, and the Impact of Malaria on Anemia in Pregnant Women Attending ANC in North Gondar Zone, Northern Ethiopia.BioMed research international · 2026Article
- Association between adequacy of antenatal care and uptake of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy among women in Ghana.Malaria journal · 2025Article
- Trend of malaria test positivity rate among pregnant women, Savannah Region, Ghana, 2018-2022.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Incidence and predictors of adverse birth outcomes among women who gave birth at Assosa general hospital, Northwest Ethiopia: a retrospective cohort study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Article
- Adverse pregnancy outcomes in maternal malarial infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.New microbes and new infections · 2024Review
- Preterm birth, low birth weight, and their co-occurrence among women with preexisting chronic diseases prior to conception: a cross-sectional analysis of postpartum women in a low-resource setting in Ghana.Maternal health, neonatology and perinatology · 2024Article
- Patient socio-demographics and clinical factors associated with malaria mortality: a case control study in the northern region of Ghana.Malaria journal · 2024Article
- Impact of Climate Change on Reproductive Health and Pregnancy Outcomes: A Systematic Review.Cureus · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveMalaria remains endemic in most of sub-Saharan Africa and has a negative impact among pregnant women, resulting in morbidity and poor birth outcomes. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between malaria and adverse birth outcomes among prenatal women in the Northern Region of Ghana.
designThis is a prospective cohort study of singleton pregnancies at 28 weeks of gestational age and above recruited between July 2018 and May 2019 from four public hospitals in the Northern Region of Ghana. OUTCOME MEASURES: Low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth and perinatal death.
resultsA total of 1323 pregnant women completed the study out of the 1626 recruited, with an average age of 27.3±5.2 years. The incidence of malaria in this population was 9.5% (95% CI 7.9 to 11.1). After adjusting for newborn admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit, parity, maternal age and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, women who were exposed to malaria during the third trimester of pregnancy had 2.02 times (95% CI 1.36 to 2.99) higher odds of premature delivery. Furthermore, they had 2.06 times (95% CI 1.09 to 3.93) higher chance of giving birth to babies with LBW, irrespective of their socioeconomic status. With an OR of 1.02 (95% CI 0.26 to 4.01), there was no difference in perinatal mortality between pregnant women with malaria and those without malaria after adjusting for caesarean section.
conclusionThis study confirms that prenatal malaria increases the odds of both preterm and LBW deliveries. A decisive policy to eradicate or minimise perinatal malaria is needed to contribute to the prevention of LBW and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.