title: Changes in weight gain and anaemia attributable to malaria in Tanzanian children living under holoendemic conditions.
abstract: We investigated the effect of Plasmodium falciparum malaria on weight gain and haematocrit in Tanzanian children aged 6-40 months following a malaria control scheme which combined insecticide-impregnated bed nets with chloroquine chemotherapy on demand. Data from 7 villages (3 intervention and 4 control) were collected before, and one year after, the implementation of the programme. Initially, 82% of the children were parasitaemic, 78% were anaemic (i.e., packed cell volume < 33%) and 38% were underweight (i.e., 2 standard deviations below their weight-for-age Z score). One year after implementation of the programme, children not protected by the bed nets grew 286 g less (95% confidence interval [CI] 171-402 g) in a 5 months period and were twice as likely to be anaemic (95% CI 1.4-2.7) than were children not using impregnated bed nets. Our results indicated that, under holoendemic conditions, P. falciparum infection has a marked effect on both weight gain and anaemia.
authors: School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Shiff
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Checkley
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Winch
authors: Z
authors: Z
authors: Premji
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Minjas
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Lubega
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002738:Chloroquine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D009032:Mosquito Control; D013636:Tanzania; D015430:Weight Gain
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D002738:Chloroquine