Reliability of Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) for Malaria among Pregnant Women in Ido-Ekiti, Western Nigeria

Background: Malaria is the commonest cause of anemia in pregnancy with severe consequence on the developing fetus. Recent clamor by the WHO for testing before treatment has driven a need to assess the effectiveness of available Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs). Objective: To determine the reliability of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) for malaria among pregnant women booking in Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 240 pregnant women were recruited at booking over a period of twenty weeks. A semi-structured questionnaire sought information about socio demographic data. Blood samples were taken for malaria and diagnosis was done using RDT and Microscopy. Results: Prevalence of malaria was 22.1% by microscopy and 27.5% by RDT. The sensitivity of RDT was 88.7% and specificity was 89.8%. The positive predictive value (PPV) of RDT was 71.2%, the Negative predictive value (NPV) of RDT was 96.6% and accuracy was 89.6%. The reliability of RDT was good (Kappa statistics = 0.731). The reliability of RDTs when compared with that of Microscopy was also good (Kappa statistics = 0.722). Conclusions: RDTs was an effective screening test for malaria among the respondents. Hence, primary care physician should utilize this resource by advocating for its availability.