Abstract

Placental malaria (PM) has been associated with a higher risk of malaria during infancy. However, it is unclear whether this association is causal, and is modified by infant sex, and whether intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) can reduce infant malaria by preventing PM.Data from a birth cohort of 656 infants born to HIV-uninfected mothers randomised to IPTp with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) or Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) was analysed. PM was categorized as no PM, active PM (presence of parasites), mild-moderate past PM (>?0-20% high powered fields [HPFs] with pigment), or severe past PM (>?20% HPFs with pigment). The association between PM and incidence of malaria in infants stratified by infant sex was examined. Causal mediation analysis was used to test whether IPTp can impact infant malaria incidence via preventing PM.There were 1088 malaria episodes diagnosed among infants during 596.6 person years of follow-up. Compared to infants born to mothers with no PM, the incidence of malaria was higher among infants born to mothers with active PM (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR] 1.30, 95% CI 1.00-1.71, p?=?0.05) and those born to mothers with severe past PM (aIRR 1.28, 95% CI 0.89-1.83, p?=?0.18), but the differences were not statistically significant. However, when stratifying by infant sex, compared to no PM, severe past PM was associated a higher malaria incidence in male (aIRR 2.17, 95% CI 1.45-3.25, p?

View details for DOI 10.1186/s12936-020-03522-z

View details for PubMedID 33272281