Conclusions This systematic review found that most of the evidence associating malaria and malnutrition comes from P. falciparum endemic areas , with a significant heterogeneity in studies ’ design .
Apparently malnutrition has not a great impact on malaria morbidity , but could have a negative impact on malaria mortality and severity .
Most studies show no association between malaria and subsequent malnutrition in P. falciparum areas .
In Plasmodium vivax endemic areas , malaria was associated with malnutrition in children .
Background Multiple studies in various parts of the world have analysed the association of nutritional status on malaria using anthropometric measures , but results differ due to the heterogeneity of the study population , species of the parasite , and other factors involved in the host and parasite relationship .
The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review on the inter-relationship of nutritional status based on anthropometry and malarial infection .
Undernutrition as an underlying cause of child deaths associated with diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and measles.
BACKGROUND Previous analyses derived the relative risk ( RR ) of dying as a result of low weight-for-age and calculated the proportion of child deaths worldwide attributable to underweight . OBJECTIVES The objectives were to examine whether the risk of dying because of underweight varies by cause of death and to estimate the fraction of deaths by cause attributable to underweight . DESIGN Data were obtained from investigators of 10 cohort studies with both weight-for-age category ( < -3 SDs , -3 to < -2 SDs , -2 to < -1 SD , and > -1 SD ) and cause of death information . All 10 studies contributed information on weight-for-age and risk of diarrhea , pneumonia , and all-cause mortality ; however , only 6 studies contributed information on deaths because of measles , and only 3 studies contributed information on deaths because of malaria or fever . With use of weighted r and om effects models , we related the log mortality rate by cause and anthropometric status in each study to derive cause-specific RRs of dying because of undernutrition . Prevalences of each weight-for-age category were obtained from analyses of 310 national nutrition surveys . With use of the RR and prevalence information , we then calculated the fraction of deaths by cause attributable to undernutrition . RESULTS The RR of mortality because of low weight-for-age was elevated for each cause of death and for all-cause mortality . Overall , 52.5 % of all deaths in young children were attributable to undernutrition , varying from 44.8 % for deaths because of measles to 60.7 % for deaths because of diarrhea . CONCLUSION A significant proportion of deaths in young children worldwide is attributable to low weight-for-age , and efforts to reduce malnutrition should be a policy priority
Conclusions This systematic review found that most of the evidence associating malaria and malnutrition comes from P. falciparum endemic areas , with a significant heterogeneity in studies ’ design .
Apparently malnutrition has not a great impact on malaria morbidity , but could have a negative impact on malaria mortality and severity .
Most studies show no association between malaria and subsequent malnutrition in P. falciparum areas .
In Plasmodium vivax endemic areas , malaria was associated with malnutrition in children .
Background Multiple studies in various parts of the world have analysed the association of nutritional status on malaria using anthropometric measures , but results differ due to the heterogeneity of the study population , species of the parasite , and other factors involved in the host and parasite relationship .
The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review on the inter-relationship of nutritional status based on anthropometry and malarial infection .