Original Research Article

Implication of Malaria on Liver Health

Roseanne Adah Okafor^1*, Fyneface Chikadibia Amadi¹, Benjamin Nnamdi Okolonkwo¹, Clement Ugochukwu Nyenke¹ and Chukwubike Udoka Okeke²

¹Department of Medical Laboratory Science, PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
²Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics, School of Health Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.

*Corresponding Author's E-mail: aokafor@pums.edu.ng

Received: 21 July 2022  I  Accepted: 23 August 2022  I  Published: 29 August 2022  I  Article ID: MRJBM22014
Copyright © 2022 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.

Abstract

Malaria is the commonest disease in Africa and some Asian countries with a global prevalence of 0.3-2.2%. Malarial infection has multi-organ complications and the liver is not an exception. It has been reported that the plasma concentrations of liver enzymes, bilirubin, protein and albumin are altered during malarial infection in children. In this study, 1000 children within the age bracket of 1 to 10 years attending Palmars Hospital, Omega Children Hospital, Braithewait Memorial Specialist Hospital, and some primary and secondary schools, all in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, were randomly selected and screened for malaria and hepatitis infections, 694 subjects with malaria infection but free of hepatitis were taken as test group while 306 free of both malarial and hepatitis infections were grouped as control. Venous blood samples were obtained from all the subjects for the determination of plasma liver enzymes, protein and albumin. Statistical analysis using ANOVA showed significantly higher concentrations of liver enzymes and bilirubin (p< 0.05) of the test group when compared with those of the control group while the concentrations of protein and albumin of the control group were significantly higher than those of the test group. This study has shown that people with malaria may also present with liver damage. It is therefore necessary to assess liver function especially in people with severe malaria.

Keywords: Malaria, Liver function parameters