Open AccessIs diabetes associated with malaria and malaria severity? A systematic review of observational studies
Author(s) -
Rodrigo M. CarrilloLarco,
Carlos Altez-Fernandez,
César Ugarte-Gil
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
wellcome open research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.298
H-Index - 21
ISSN - 2398-502X
DOI - 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15467.3
Subject(s) - malaria , odds ratio , diabetes mellitus , meta analysis , environmental health , medicine , immunology , endocrinology
Background: We conducted a systematic review to study the association between diabetes and malaria as well as malaria severity. Methods: The search was conducted in Embase, Global Health, MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science. Titles and abstracts were screened, full-text studied and information extracted for qualitative synthesis. Risk of bias was assessed with ROBINS-I criteria. The exposure was diabetes and the outcome malaria or malaria severity. Results: Of 1992 results, three studies were included (n=7,226). Two studies found strong associations: people with diabetes had higher odds of malaria (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.46 (95% CI: 1.06-2.03)) and severe malaria (aOR: 2.98 (95% CI: 1.25-7.09)). One study did not find conclusive evidence: aOR for severe malaria was 0.95 (95% CI: 0.71-1.28). Risk of bias was high in all the studies. Conclusions: Although the available evidence on the association between diabetes and malaria is limited, the results may suggest there is a non-trivial positive relationship between these conditions.