Evaluation of Liver Function Tests among Sudanese Malaria Patients
Sudan Medical Laboratory Journal · Volume 7, Issue 1 (2019) · pp. 46–51
Abstract
<jats:p>Background: Malaria is a major public health problem in tropical areas. It is responsible for infecting 300-500 million people and 1-3 million deaths annually. The liver takes part in malaria parasite live cycle, this leads to the destruction of liver cells and leads to liver function tests abnormalities.
Objective: To assess liver function tests in Sudanese adult patients infected with malaria parasite compared with a healthy control group.
Methods: In a case-control study, 150 malaria patients were recruited to assess liver function tests compared to another 50 healthy people as control group.
Results: The study showed that malaria-infected patients have significant elevation in total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, alanine amino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Tests also show a significant decrease in albumin level, whereas there is no significant difference in total protein levels between malaria patients and control group.
Conclusion: malaria infection affects liver parameters, for it increases levels of direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, total bilirubin, AST, ALT, and LDH also decrease the level of albumin but the level of total protein is not affected.</jats:p>