Journal Article Epublish 1 citation
PubMed: 37954722 DOI: 10.7759/cureus.46871
Malarial Antibodies and Endemicity: Does It Affect SARS-CoV-2 Severity and Outcomes?
Cureus 15(10):e46871
Authors: Prayas Sethi, Tamoghna Ghosh, Souradeep Chowdhury, Raunak Bir, Nishant Verma, Shivam Pandey, Arulselvi Subramanian, Ved Meena, Neeraj Nischal, Sulagna Bhattacharjee, Ajisha Aravindan, Rahul K Anand, Devalina Goswami, Richa Aggarwal, Naveet Wig
Affiliations
- Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IND.
- Infectious Diseases, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IND.
- Microbiology, Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, IND.
- Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IND.
- Biostatistics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IND.
- Laboratory Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IND.
- Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine, and Critical Care, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IND.
Abstract
Background India has a disproportionately lower rate of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severe disease and lower death rates with respect to other parts of the world. It has been proposed that malaria-endemic countries such as India are relatively protected against severe COVID-19 disease and deaths. Methods This was a cross-sectional, analytical, observational study conducted from August 2020 to July 2021 at a tertiary care COVID-19-designated center in New Delhi, India. It aimed to study the association between antimalarial antibody levels and COVID-19 disease severity and outcomes. Results One hundred forty-six patients were included in the final analysis. The mean (standard deviation {SD}) age of the study population was 44.6 (17.2) years, and there were 85 (58.2%) males. Sixty-five patients had mild disease, 14 patients had moderate disease, and 67 patients had severe disease at the time of enrolment in the study. Forty-six patients expired during the hospital stay. For the antimalarial antibody, there was a statistically significant difference between mild and moderate (p=0.018), mild and severe (p=0.016), and mild and combined moderate and severe diseases (p=0.013). However, there was no difference between the patients who survived and those who did not. Conclusion Antimalarial antibody levels may not be associated with the outcomes of COVID-19 during hospital stay. However, this study has provided some insights into the relationship between the severity and outcomes of COVID-19 and the levels of antimalarial antibodies.
MeSH
Malaria, Sars-Cov-2, Mortality, Antibodies, Covid-19, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Related Coronavirus, Antimalarials