Assessment of platelet count in Malaria suspected Patients and Associated Factors in Arba Minch Health center, Arba Minch, Ethiopia
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Date
2015-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Malaria infection is a major public health problem and cause of morbidity and mortality in
tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It has been consistently reported as one of the three leading
causes of morbidity and mortality in Ethiopia. Changes in hematological parameters are likely to be
influenced by any disease condition including endemic diseases, such as malaria. Anemia and
thrombocytopenia are the most frequent malaria associated hematological complications and they play a
major role in malaria pathogenesis. The presence of thrombocytopenia in malaria positive patients has
become a highly sensitive clinical marker for malaria diagnosis. significant correlation between malaria
and the presence of thrombocytopenia is mandatory before taking it as a hematological parameter of the
disease. However in Ethiopia the relation between thrombocytopenia and malaria pathogenesis is not well
studied.
Objective: To assess platelet count among malaria suspected patients and associated factors in Arba
Minch Health Center, Arba Minch, Ethiopia.
.Methodology: Aninstitutional based cross sectional study was conducted in Arba Minch Health center
from February to April, 2015. Data was collected from 424 malaria suspected patients that came during
the 3 months of data collection period. Using estimation of single population proportion formula and
sequential sampling technique we selected 424 study participants. In addition data on sex, age, occupation
and associated factors was collected using structured checklist.Data was entered and analyzed by SPSS
Version 20.Frequency and cross tabulation was conductedto describe relevant variables in relation to the
outcome variables; bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify
significant predictors based on p-value less than 0.05 with 95% confidence level.
Result: Among 424 malaria suspected patients 117 (27.6%) [95% CI 23.3 - 31.9] were positive for
malaria and the rest 307(72.4%) [95%CI 68.1- 76.7] were negative. Prevalence of thrombocytopenia was
36.1% and among this 19.8% were malaria positive. The mean platelet count in Plasmodium vivaxwas
163,000/μl (SD 115,000) with a range of 18,000-403,000/μl as against Plasmodium falciparum malaria
128,000(SD72, 324/μl) with a range of 33,000-311,000/μl). A significant reduction of platelet count was
seen in this study (AOR 15.7, P<0.001) in malaria positive patients than that of malaria negative patients.
Among the associated factor being positive for bacterial infection [AOR= 2.14 (95%CI 1.22-3.76)]
(P=0.008), malaria positivity [AOR=15.8 (95%CI 8.7-28.66)] (p <0.001) have a statistically significant
correlation to thrombocytopenia.
Conclusion & Recommendation: Thrombocytopenia is a common hematological finding in
malaria. Reduced number of platelet count was noticed in 71.8% of cases of malaria. So this study also
connotes the importance of thrombocytopenia in malaria infection
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Arba Minch Health center