Table 1.
Characteristics of the study groups
| Number of women (n= 311) | Primigravidae (n= 217) | Secundigravidae (n= 94) | Pa | |
| Age mean years, (SD)b | 19 (3.33) | 19 (3.31) | 21 (2.93) | < 0.001 |
| Age of pregnancy mean, months (SD) | 4 (1.3) | 4 (1.2) | 4 (1.4) | |
| Thick blood smear | ||||
| Negative Noc, (%) | 134 (43) | 78 (36) | 56 (60) | |
| Positive No, (%) | 177 (57) | 139 (64) | 38 (40) | < 0.001 |
| Lowd No, (%) | 92 (52) | 66 (47) | 26 (68) | |
| Moderate No, (%) | 75 (42) | 64 (46) | 11 (29) | |
| High No, (%) | 10 (6) | 9 (6) | 1 (3) | |
| Parasitaemiae | ||||
| Median [IQR]f | 930 [348–2808] | 1050 [510–3060] | 434 [149–2008] | 0.002 |
| Haemoglobin | ||||
| Mean g/dl, (SD) | 10.2 (1.4) | 10.1 (1.4) | 10.3 (1.3) | NSg |
| Non anaemic No, (%) | 90 (29) | 61 (28) | 29 (31) | |
| Anaemic No, (%) | 221 (71) | 156 (72) | 65 (69) | NS |
| Lowh No, (%) | 157 (71) | 108 (69) | 49 (75) | |
| Moderate No, (%) | 59 (27) | 45 (29) | 14 (22) | |
| Severe No, (%) | 5 (2) | 3 (2) | 2 (3) | |
| EpHbi | ||||
| AA No, (%) | 248 (80) | |||
| AS No, (%) | 56 (18) | |||
| AC No, (%) | 7 (2) | |||
| Fever | ||||
| yes No, (%) | 84 (27) | |||
| no No, (%) | 227 (73) | |||
| Chemoprophylaxis | ||||
| yes No, (%) | 17 (5) | |||
| no No, (%) | 294 (95) |
aP values for comparison between primigravidae and multigravidae. b Standard Deviation. c Number of pregnant women. d for definitions of parasitaemia see Patients and Methods. e parasitaemia in parasitaemic women. f interquartile range. g Not significant. h for definitions of anaemia see Patients and Methods. i Electrophoresis of Hb.