Prevalence of malaria and hepatitis B among pregnant women in Northern Ghana: Comparing RDTs with PCR.
PLoS One
; 14(2): e0210365, 2019.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30726218
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
High prevalence of malaria and hepatitis B has been reported among pregnant women in Ghana. In endemic areas, the diagnoses of malaria and hepatitis B among pregnant women on antenatal visits are done using histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP2) and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), respectively, which are, however, reported to give some false positive results. Also, socio-economic determinants have been drawn from these RDTs results which may have questionable implications. Thus, this study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence of malaria and hepatitis B by comparing RDTs with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) outcomes, and relating the PCR prevalence with socio-economic status among pregnant women in Northern Ghana.METHODS:
We screened 2071 pregnant women on their first antenatal visit for Plasmodium falciparum and hepatitis B virus (HBV) using HRP2 and HBsAg RDTs, and confirming the infections with PCR. Socio-economic and obstetric information were collected using a pre-tested questionnaire, and associations with the infections were determined using Pearson's chi-square and multinomial logistic regression analyses at a significance level of p<0.05.RESULTS:
The prevalence of the infections by RDTs/PCR was 14.1%/13.4% for P. falciparum mono-infection, 7.9%/7.5% for HBV mono-infection, and 1.9%/1.7% for P. falciparum/HBV co-infection. No statistical difference in prevalence rates were observed between the RDTs and PCRs (χ2 = 0.119, p = 0.73 for malaria and χ2 = 0.139, p = 0.709 for hepatitis B). Compared with PCRs, the sensitivity/specificity of the RDTs was 97.5%/99.1% and 97.9%/99.4% for HRP2 and HBsAg respectively. Socio-economic status was observed not to influence HBV mono-infection among the pregnant women (educational status AOR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.52-1.16, p = 0.222; economic status AOR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.72-1.56, p = 0.739; financial status AOR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.44-1.00, p = 0.052). However, pregnant women with formal education were at a lower risk for P. falciparum mono-infection (AOR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.32-0.71, p<0.001) and P. falciparum/HBV co-infection (AOR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.11-0.67, p = 0.005). Also those with good financial status were also at a lower risk for P. falciparum mono-infection (AOR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.36-0.74, p<0.001).CONCLUSION:
Our data has shown that, the RDTs are comparable to PCR and can give a representative picture of the prevalence of malaria and hepatitis B in endemic countries. Also, our results support the facts that improving socio-economic status is paramount in eliminating malaria in endemic settings. However, socio-economic status did not influence the prevalence of HBV mono-infection among pregnant women in Northern Ghana.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Contexto en salud:
2_ODS3
/
3_ND
Problema de salud:
2_enfermedades_transmissibles
/
3_malaria
/
3_neglected_diseases
Asunto principal:
Complicaciones Infecciosas del Embarazo
/
Malaria Falciparum
/
Hepatitis B
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
País/Región como asunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
PLoS One
Asunto de la revista:
CIENCIA
/
MEDICINA
Año:
2019
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Ghana