Nutritional and Health Status of Pregnant Women in Third Trimester with Malaria in Rural Communities in South Eastern States of Nigeria

Onyeneke Esther-Ben Ninikanwa¹*, Akujobi Ijeoma Chidinma¹ and Nwachukwu Chijioke Nnaemeka²

¹Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Imo State University, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
²Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture and Vet Medicine, Imo State University, Owerri Imo State, Nigeria

*Corresponding Author: Onyeneke Esther-Ben Ninikanwa, estyninika@gmail.com, estyninika@imsuonline.edu.ng, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Imo State University, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.

Received: January 01, 2026; Published: December 31, 2025

Abstract

This study investigated the nutrition and Health status of pregnant women in third trimester with malaria in rural communities in South Eastern States of Nigeria. It was a cross-sectional survey comprising of four hundred women in their third trimester. A multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in the recruitment of the subject used for the study. It involved the selection of four LGA in South Eastern States, four from each of the selected Five States (Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo State) which was carried out by balloting. A well-structured and validated questionnaire was used to collect information on socioeconomic data and health data. Height was measured using meter rule, weight and body composition parameters were measured using bioelectrical impedance analyzer (model Omnon- HBF-511B-E). Maternal biochemical parameters (Lipid Profile, liver function, blood glucose, Malaria Parasitemia, Zinc, Folate, Vitamin B levels, Renal function, hemoglobin concentrations, and iron levels were all analyzed. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s bivariate correlations was used to evaluate the relationship between all the health parameters. Of the 400 respondents, 19.8% had diabetes, 19% had high blood pressure, and 5.0% had preeclampsia while none had proteinuria. Few of the respondents were overweight during this their third trimester assessment as their records showed over weight during first and second trimesters respectively. 19% of the respondents were overweight in first assessment from records and showed 41.8% overweight in their third trimester assessment. Correlation analysis among pregnant women in their third trimester revealed generally weak associations between maternal biochemical parameters and the outcome variable under investigation. Lipid profile (r = 0.022), liver function (r = 0.012), blood glucose (r = 0.001), malaria parasitemia (r = 0.006), zinc (r = 0.007), folate (r = 0.005), and vitamin B levels (r = 0.027) all demonstrated very weak positive correlations. Conversely, renal function (r = –0.033), hemoglobin concentration (r = –0.009), and iron levels (r = –0.055) showed weak negative correlations. These findings suggest minimal linear relationships between the assessed parameters and the studied outcome, indicating that other factors may play a more substantial role in influencing maternal health status during late pregnancy. However, other findings from this study showed that the high prevalence of overweight and obesity observed could be linked to the moderate nutritional knowledge of the respondents, also more precisely higher nutritional attitude is not associated with better weight gains in pregnancy.

 Keywords: Third Trimester; Pregnancy; Malaria; Health - Status; Nigeria

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Citation

Citation: Onyeneke Esther-Ben Ninikanwa., et al. “Nutritional and Health Status of Pregnant Women in Third Trimester with Malaria in Rural Communities in South Eastern States of Nigeria”.Acta Scientific Women's Health 8.1 (2026): 22-36.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2026 Onyeneke Esther-Ben Ninikanwa., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.