Profiles of Hematological Parameters in Plasmodium vivax Malaria Patients attending Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar

Abstract

Background: Plasmodium is a type of parasite that causes malaria. Fiveknown species of Plasmodium can cause malaria in humans, Plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium malariae, and Plasmodium knowlesi. This study was designed to assess the effect of plasmodium vivax infection on malaria-associated hematological parameters.

Material and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. The duration of the study was four (04) months from June to September 2023. A total of 384 samples possessed positive malarial parasite on peripheral smear both genders having different ages groups  were included in the study. Variables such as age frequencies and percentage were reported for gender, hemoglobin, platelets, and white blood cells (WBC). This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of   Ahmad Medical Institute, Peshawar. All collected data were analyzed through SPSS-22.

Result: The study findings revealed that 196(51.0%) patients were males and 186(49%) were females. Out of 384 patients, 178 (46.4%) were between 10-30 years, 164(42.7%) were between 31-50 years, and 42(10.9%) were between 51-70 years age. Furthermore, out of 384, 11(2.9%) were normal, 69(18.0%) were anemic, 154(40.1%) were thrombocytopenia, 28(7.3%) were leukocytosis. Overall, distribution of thrombocytopenia, 120(31.3%) were no thrombocytopenia, 113 (29.4%) were mild thrombocytopenia, 104 (27.1%) were moderate thrombocytopenia, 47(12.4) were severe thrombocytopenia.

Conclusion: Gaining further knowledge about these hematological indicators would enable their application in monitoring treatment response and early detection of malaria complications. The two most frequent hematological abnormalities results associated with malaria infection were thrombocytopenia and anemia.