Correlates of Hepatomegaly and Splenomegaly among Healthy School Children in a Malaria-endemic Village.

Abstract

Summary: A study of 145 apparently healthy primary school children in Erunmu, a village in south-west Nigeria, has revealed the prevalence of asympto matic malaria parasitaemia to be 80 percent during the peak malaria transmission season. A prevalence of 15.2 percent hepatomegaly was the most common finding, followed by splenom egaly in 11.7 percent and hepatosplenomegaly in 6.2 percent of the subjects. The occurrence of hepatomegaly was significantly (P <0.001) associated with young age. There was however, no such association with splenomegaly. Children with no organ enlargement had the lowest ma laria parasite densities, while hepatosplenomegaly was associated with the highest parasite densities. The haemoglobin type did not show any association with organ enlargement. It is concluded that hepatic enlargement should be used as a malariometric index particularly in young children along with spleen rate that is currently being employed in defining the endemic ity of malaria.