Table 3.

Summary of data synthesis and statistical analysis methods

Analysis Step	Description
Qualitative synthesis	Narrative summary of ESR differences between (i) malaria patients vs. non-malarial controls, and (ii) severe vs. non-severe malaria cases.
Meta-analysis	Pooled standardized SMDs of ESR levels calculated using a random-effects model.
Heterogeneity assessment	Measured using the I² statistic; I² >50% considered substantial heterogeneity.
Meta-regression	Explored sources of heterogeneity by analyzing covariates such as publication year, study design, location, age group, Plasmodium species, clinical status, malaria, and ESR measurement methods.
Subgroup analyses	Stratified analyses based on covariates to explore effect variations.
Sensitivity analysis	Tested the robustness of the meta-analysis by sequentially removing individual studies.
Outlier detection	Identified and excluded studies that significantly deviated from the pooled effect estimate.
Power analysis	Assessed whether the number of included studies was sufficient to detect a significant difference in ESR levels.
Publication bias Assessment	Evaluated using funnel plot visualization and Egger’s test for asymmetry. The trim and fill method was used to adjust for suspected small-study bias or publication bias.
Software used	All analyses were performed using R Studio (Version: 2023.09.1 + 494).