Abstract

Malaria and Hypertension are among the important public health challenges in sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria. Microalbuminuria and dyslipidemia have been regarded as two predictors of cardiovascular and renal dysfunction. This study is a hospital-based cross-sectional study designed to evaluate the serum cortisol, lipid profile, and microalbumin levels in adults hypertensive with and without malaria attending Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria. One hundred and fifty adult volunteers were randomly recruited from the nephrology clinic for the study. 50 of them were newly hypertensive individuals (20 males and 30 females), 50 were newly hypertensive with malaria infection (25 males and 25 females), and 50 were normotensive participants (26 males and 24 females) within the age range of 30-90 years. Methods: A blood sample was collected from each of the participants for assaying lipid profiles (total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDLc) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc), cortisol, and microalbumin) using enzymatic methods. Peripheral malaria was determined using rapid detection and Giemsa stain techniques. Results: The mean serum cortisol, TC, LDL-C, triglycerides, and microalbumin levels were significantly higher, while HDL-C was lower in hypertensive individuals with or without malaria parasite infection than normotensive individuals (p≤.05, respectively), though higher in malaria-infected individuals. Body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure(DBP) were significantly higher in hypertensive individuals with or without malaria infection than in normotensive individuals (p≤.05). Conclusions: There is established evidence of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and renal dysfunction, which were more severe in hypertensive patients with malaria infection. Hence, monitoring hypertensive patients for malaria infection is very necessary and should be a routine check to curb complications and disease progression in this population