Effect of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria on the outcome of pregnancy among women attending antenatal clinic of a Nigerian Teaching Hospital
Background: Malaria is a public health problem globally especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa and among the under five children and pregnant women. Malaria in pregnancy is well known to be associated with a lot of maternal and fetal complications. Intermittent Preventive Treatment with Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine is the currently recommended regimen for prevention of malaria in pregnancy in the endemic areas.Objective: The study was on the effect of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy on the prevalence of malaria in pregnancy and the outcome of pregnancy.Method: It was a prospective descriptive cross-sectional study and a semi-structured questionnaire was administered to women in the lying in ward University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, who booked in the hospital, attended at least two antenatal clinic visits and delivered in the hospital.Results: The study revealed that about 75% of the pregnant women studied had access to intermittent preventive treatment of malaria and also that among the women attending the antenatal clinic that received the IPT, about 78% of them took the recommended dose of the IPT. The prevalence of malaria was statistically higher in women who did not receive intermittent preventive treatment with sulphadoxinepyrimethamine during pregnancy (44.7% vs 31.3%, p=0.0001) and among women who had one dose of the drug instead of two doses (40.0% vs 28.7%, p= 0.0001). There was no statistical significant difference in the mean age in years (31.53±5.238 vs 31.07±4.751, p= 0.09 and the gestational age at delivery (38.76±1.784 vs 38.85±1.459, p= 0.122) between the women who did not receive IPT and those who had it. There was a statistical significant difference in the outcome of pregnancy among women who had IPT and those who did not viz a viz in the duration of labor (8.6±1.491 vs 8.7 ± 1.634, p= 0.011) and the birth weight of the babies (3.138 ±0.402 vs 3.263± 0.398, p=0.0001)Conclusion: Intermittent preventive of malaria with Sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine in pregnancy is effective as a prophylaxis against malaria and improves the outcome of pregnancy in malaria's endemic areas.Keywords: Pregnancy, Malaria, Intermittent preventive treatment, sulphadoxine-PyrimethamineTrop J Obstet Gynaecol, 30 (1), April 201
