Factors associated with chloroquine-induced pruritus during malaria treatment in Mozambican university students.
BACKGROUND
It has been suggested that reductions in chloroquine use may be followed by a resurgence of chloroquine-susceptible falciparum malaria, and chloroquine might once again be an effective treatment choice, which renews the importance of aspects related to its use and misuse. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the prevalence of chloroquine-induced pruritus and to identify risk factors for its occurrence in Mozambican University students.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted at a private University in Maputo. Students were approached in the classrooms to complete a self-administered questionnaire covering sociodemographic characteristics, number of previous malaria episodes, utilization of antimalarial drugs, and life prevalence of chloroquine induced pruritus.


RESULTS
Among 795 respondents, 77.4% (601/777) reported at least one malaria episode and 73.2% (542/740) had used chloroquine before. The life-prevalence of chloroquine-induced pruritus was 30.1% (158/525). Pruritus tended to be more frequent when chloroquine was used for treatment compared with prophylaxis only (31.2% vs. 10.3%, p<0.05), and chloroquine use in the last malaria episode was less frequent in participants recalling chloroquine-induced pruritus (52.3% vs. 65.1%, p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
About one third of the black population using chloroquine experienced chloroquine-induced pruritus at least once. This adverse reaction tended to be less frequent when lower doses of chloroquine were used and to influence future anti-malarial therapeutic choices.
Gama
Helena
H
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Porto University Medical School, Portugal.
Ismael
Aldo
A
Sitoi
Felicidade
F
Matola
André
A
Barros
Henrique
H
Lunet
Nuno
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002738:Chloroquine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003875:Drug Eruptions / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009073:Mozambique; D015995:Prevalence; D011537:Pruritus / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
D000962:Antimalarials; D002738:Chloroquine