Impact of Malaria Severity on Serum Levels of Hepcidin and Iron Status in Children

Abstract

Malaria is a life threatening disease and one of the leading causes of death in Africa especially in children. This study aimed to assess the impact of malaria on levels of hepcidin and iron status (haemoglobin, serum iron and total iron binding capacity) based on the severity of malaria infection. A total of ninety three subjects between the ages of 6 months-15 years were investigated for malaria infection using microscopic method. Thirty three subjects had severe malaria; thirty subjects had non-severe malaria and thirty apparently healthy subjects served as control. Hepcidin was estimated using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), serum iron and haemoglobin were estimated spectrophotometrically. The results obtained showed that there were increased levels of hepcidin and decreased levels of haemoglobin, serum iron and total iron binding capacity in severe and non-severe malaria compared with apparently healthy subjects (P<0.05). Hepicidin also showed inverse correlation with serum iron, TIBC and haemoglobin in both severe and non-severe malaria. The study concluded that severe malaria may cause the upregulation of hepcidin and the increased hepcidin could put the subject at risk of iron deficiency anemia. The study suggests that hepcidin could help in the evaluation of severe and non-severe malaria and also be used to monitor the progression of malaria infection.

Keywords

• Hepcidin
• Malaria
• Children