Spatial heterogeneity of malaria in Ghana: a cross-sectional study on the association between urbanicity and the acquisition of immunity.
Malar J
; 15: 84, 2016 Feb 11.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26867774
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Malaria incidence has declined considerably over the last decade. This is partly due to a scale-up of control measures but is also attributed to increasing urbanization. This study aimed to analyse the association between malaria and urbanization and the effect of urbanicity on the acquisition of semi-immunity.METHODS:
In 2012, children with fever presenting to St Michael's Hospital Pramso/Ghana were recruited. The malaria-positive-fraction (MPF) of fever cases was calculated on community-level to approximate the malaria risk. The mean age of malaria cases was calculated for each community to estimate the acquisition of semi-immunity. The level of urbanicity for the communities was calculated and associations between MPF, urbanicity and immunity were modelled using linear regression.RESULTS:
Twenty-six villages were included into the study with a mean MPF of 35 %. A linear decrease of 5 % (95 % CI 4-6 %) in MPF with every ten-point increase in urbanicity was identified. The mean age of malaria patients increased by 2.9 months (95 % CI 1.0-4.8) with every ten-point increase in urbanicity.DISCUSSION:
The results confirm an association between an increase in urbanicity and declining malaria risk and demonstrate that the acquisition of semi-immunity is heterogeneous on a micro-epidemiological scale and is associated with urbanicity.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Malária
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Child, preschool
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Female
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Humans
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Infant
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Male
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Newborn
País como assunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2016
Tipo de documento:
Article