Vol. 11, Issue 1, Part B (2024)

Methods: This hospital-based case-control study was carried out for the period of one year. A total of 200 patients (100 with gestational malaria as cases and 100 healthy pregnant women as controls) were recruited for this study.

Results: Gestational age, urea, and creatinine were associated with malaria infection. However, age, gravidity, parity, sodium, and potassium showed no significant association with malaria infection. There were significantly increased plasma urea and creatinine with respect to increasing degree of parasitaemia (moderate and high) com- pared to non-malaria group. There was a significant difference in levels of urea and creatinine and the degree of parasitaemia when stratified according to the gestational age. However, parity and gravidity showed no significance difference.

Conclusion: We concluded that malaria has a significant impact on renal biochemical profile (most importantly, urea and creatinine), with cases of increasing gestational age having a higher risk of the consequences of malaria. We recommend that pregnant women who report to hospitals with malaria should also be examined for kidney function.