Table 1. Characteristics of 1536 women recruited during pregnancy and seen at delivery by rapid plasma reagin assay (RPR) status at recruitment.

	Total	%	RPR+	%	RPR–	%	P
Age group
13–19 years	303	19.7	97	19.3	206	19.9	0.57
20–24 years	634	41.3	204	40.6	430	41.6
25–29 years	378	24.6	134	26.7	244	23.6
≥ 30 years	221	14.4	67	13.4	154	14.9
Marital statusa							0.88
Married	1 316	85.7	430	85.7	886	85.8
Not married	129	8.4	41	8.2	88	8.5
Widowed/divorced/separated	90	5.9	31	6.2	59	5.7
Education
None	205	13.4	103	20.5	102	9.9	< 0.001
Primary	1 154	75.1	369	73.5	785	75.9
Secondary	175	11.4	29	5.8	146	14.1
Tribe
Sukuma	540	35.2	229	45.6	311	30.1	< 0.001
Other	996	64.8	273	54.4	723	69.9
Residence in Mwanza
≤ 1 year	280	18.2	105	20.9	175	16.9	0.06
> 1 year	1 256	81.8	397	79.1	859	83.1
Gravidity
1–2	828	53.9	251	50.0	577	55.8	0.05
3–5	566	36.9	207	41.2	359	34.7
≥ 6	142	9.2	44	8.8	98	9.5
Housing (building material)
Concrete	872	56.8	237	48.1	635	62.4	< 0.001
Mud/wood	639	41.6	256	51.9	383	37.6
Literate
Yes	1 229	80.0	358	71.3	871	84.2	< 0.001
No	307	20.0	144	28.7	163	15.8
No. of sexual partners in last year
1	1 375	89.5	431	85.9	944	91.3	0.001
≥ 2	161	10.5	71	14.1	90	8.7
Prevalence of RTI at recruitment
Candida albicansb	454	29.6	138	27.5	316	30.6	0.21
Trichomonas vaginalis	315	20.5	143	28.5	172	16.6	< 0.001
Bacterial vaginosis	459	29.9	158	31.5	301	29.1	0.34
Neisseria gonorrhoeaec	33	2.2	14	2.8	19	1.8	0.23
Chlamydia trachomatisc	114	7.4	43	8.6	71	6.9	0.24
Prevalence of maternal factors at delivery
HIVd	177	11.7	73	14.7	104	10.2	0.01
Placental malariae	451	39.2	174	48.3	277	35.0	< 0.001
Peripheral malariaf	113	9.9	32	9.1	81	10.3	0.51
Anaemiag	772	64.9	270	73.0	502	61.3	< 0.001

^a 1 woman missing marital status.
^b 2 missing results.
^c 1 missing result.
^d 18 missing results.
^e 384 missing results.
^f 369 missing, 29 indeterminate results.
^g 357 missing results; sample taken before actual delivery.