Impact of Schistosoma hematobium infection on host haematological profile parameters in West Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Schistosoma haematobium infection is linked to abnormalities in the haematological parameters of infected hosts, according to research, and is a significant source of morbidity and mortality in Africa and other continents. However, there is little conclusive data regarding S. haematobium's overall impact on the host haematological profile of infected people.

In order to evaluate the impact of schistosomiasis on the haematological profile in West Africa, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis. The PRISMA recommendations for performing and reporting systematic reviews were followed in this study. Between June 21 and June 26, 2022, we conducted a literature search in MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar for case-control, cross-sectional, prospective or retrospective cohort studies, and randomized controlled trials that have reported haematological profile derangements among individuals infected with S. haematobium between January 1, 1980, and December 31 2021, using "free terms" and "indexed terms" funneled using the Boolean operators OR and AND. The weighted mean difference (WMD) between cases and controls and the effect estimates (mean difference) of each research with the pooled effects estimate depicted using forest plots were used to present data on continuous outcomes. The DerSimonian-Laird random effects approach was utilized as the between study variance estimator in generating the pooled effect estimate and its confidence interval due to the substantial observed heterogeneity. A 0.05 p-value was regarded as statistically significant. The meta-analysis was conducted using the OpenMeta [Analyst] meta-analysis tools and MedCalc statistical software, version 14.

The cases with S. haematobium infection had decreased hemoglobin (Hb) levels by a pooled estimate of 0.33 g/dl (95% CI: -0.88 to 0.22 g/dl) which was not significantly different when compared to S. haematobium-free control groups (p = 0.24). S. haematobium elevated the total white blood cells (tWBC) count by 0.48 x 103cell/L (95% CI: 0.02 to 0.94 x 103cell/L), albeit this increase was not statistically significant (p=0.074). The estimated platelet count difference was 18.18 cells x 109/L (95% CI= -1.53 to 37.89 cells x 109/L), which suggests that although not statistically significant, S. haematobium-infected subjects had higher platelet counts than their uninfected groups.

Studies are needed to understand the pathophysiology and long-term pathophysiologic effects of S. haematobium infection on the host system, as well as to identify the regulatory pathways and biomarkers responsible for the observed but not statistically significant haematological abnormalities. Meanwhile, additional and intensified study targeted at determining the influence of the infection on host haematological profile is advocated for a continent burdened by such unfavourable effects as the impact of S. haematobium infections.