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Malaria is a cause of iron deficiency in African children
Muriuki JM, Mentzer AJ, Mitchell R, Webb EL, Etyang AO, Kyobutungi C, Morovat A, Kimita W, Ndungu FM, Macharia AW, Ngetsa CJ, Makale J, Lule SA, Musani SK, Raffield LM, Cutland CL, Sirima SB, Diarra A, Tiono AB, Fried M, Gwamaka M, Adu-Afarwuah S, Wirth JP, Wegmuller R, Madhi SA, Snow RW, Hill AVS, Rockett KA, Sandhu MS, Kwiatkowski DP, Prentice AM, Byrd KA, Ndjebayi A, Stewart CP, Engle-Stone R, Green TJ, Karakochuk CD, Suchdev PS, Bejon P, Duffy PE, Davey Smith G, Elliott AM, Williams TN, Atkinson SH
Nat Med. 2021;27
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01238-4
Malaria and iron deficiency (ID) are common and interrelated public health problems in African children. Observational data suggest that interrupting malaria transmission reduces the prevalence of ID(1). To test the hypothesis that malaria might cause ID, we used sickle cell trait (HbAS, rs334 ), a genetic variant that confers specific protection against malaria(2), as an instrumental variable in Mendelian randomization analyses. HbAS was associated with a 30% reduction in ID among children living in malaria-endemic countries in Africa (n = 7,453), but not among individuals living in malaria-free areas (n = 3,818). Genetically predicted malaria risk was associated with an odds ratio of 2.65 for ID per unit increase in the log incidence rate of malaria. This suggests that an intervention that halves the risk of malaria episodes would reduce the prevalence of ID in African children by 49%.