Abstract:
BACKGROUND: The burden of post-malaria cognitive impairment is often overlooked.
Given the large number of infections occurring worldwide, the magnitude of the
problem is likely to be substantial. The objectives of this paper are; (i) to
assess the evidence on post malarial cognitive impairment or impact on school
education; (ii) to assess the possible positive impact of malaria drug
prophylaxis on cognition; and (iii) to suggest recommendations on minimizing the
burden of post-malarial cognitive impairment.
METHODS: PUBMED and SCOPUS were searched for all articles with the key word
'Malaria' in the title field and 'cognitive impairment' in any field. Google
Scholar was searched for the same keywords anywhere in the article. The search
was restricted to articles published in English within the last 15 years
(1995-2010). After filtering of abstracts from the initial search, 44 papers had
research evidence on this topic.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION: Cognitive abilities and school performance were shown
to be impaired in sub-groups of patients (with either cerebral malaria or
uncomplicated malaria) when compared with healthy controls. Studies comparing
cognitive functions before and after treatment for acute malarial illness
continued to show significantly impaired school performance and cognitive
abilities even after recovery. Malaria prophylaxis was shown to improve cognitive
function and school performance in clinical trials when compared to placebo
groups. The implications of these findings are discussed.
