THE IMPACT OF MATERNAL PARASITE DENSITIES TO THE PREVALENCE OF CONGENITAL MALARIA INFECTION AND LOW BIRTH WEIGHT IN NEWBORNS

Background: Malaria in pregnancy is high in women in their 1st and 2nd pregnancies and is associated with significant impact such infant low birth weight and the increasing risk of perinatally and infant mortality. Maumere is a malaria-endemic area with moderate transmission and congenital malaria (CM) infection is presumed to cause morbidity and mortality in newborns.

Objective: To understand the impact of maternal parasite densities to the prevalence of CM infection and low birth weight (LBW) in the newborns at TC. Hillers Hospital, Maumere.

Methods: An analytic cross sectional study was carried out. A blood smear confirmed by nested PCR was performed in both mother and newborns. The cut-off point of maternal parasite density that caused CM was sought. The relationship between maternal parasite densities with LBW was investigated.

Results: From 92 pairs mother infant that include as subject of this study, there were 39 newborns (42.4%) were found to be infected with P. falciparum or P. vivax. ROC statistical analysis found a significant result in the influence of maternal parasite density to the prevalence of CM (p=0.000, 95% AUC 0.632-0.857). The best cut-off point of maternal parasite density in predicting CM was equal or more than 0.2%. Spearman correlation test showed no significant correlation between maternal parasite densities with LBW (p=0.889).

Conclusion: Focusing on newborns, the prevalence of CM infection in newborns at endemic area was affected by maternal parasite density, although it was not the only determinant factor. The correlation between maternal parasite densities with LBW was not significant.