Table 1. Characteristics of patients with and without sickle cell disease (SCD) who were admitted to Kilifi District Hospital during the period 1 July 1998 through 31 June 2005.

Baseline characteristic	Patients with SCD (n = 555)	Patients without SCD (n = 33,974)	P a
No. (%) of male patients	315 (56.8)	18,724 (55.1)	.66
No. (%) of female patients	240 (43.2)	15,250 (44.9)	.66
Median age (IQR), months	58.3 (29.3-90.9)	17.3 (6.7-90.8)	<.001
Proportion (%) of patients with severe malnutritionb	77/555 (13.9)	6491/33,042 (19.6)	.001
Mean Hb concentration (95% CI), g/dL	6.5 (6.1-6.5)	9.0 (9.01-9.08)	<.001
Proportion (%) of patients with Hb concentration <5 g/dL	160/535 (29.9)	3169/30,655 (10.3)	<.001
Proportion (%) of patients with Hb concentration 5-7 g/dL	152/535 (28.4)	4303/30,655 (14.0)	<.001
Proportion (%) of patients with Hb concentration >7 g/dL	223/535 (41.7)	23,183/30,655 (75.6)	<.001
Geometric MCV (95% CI), fL	82.4 (81.3-83.5)	73.7 (73.5-73.8)	<.001
Mean WBC count (95% CI), 106 cells/mL	22.2 (20.8-23.6)	12.0 (11.9-12.1)	<.001
Mean platelet count (95% CI), 109 platelets/L	254.3 (232.9-277.8)	217.1 (214.7-219.6)	<.001
No. (%) of patients with malariac	59 (10.6)	13,032 (38.4)	<.001
Proportion (%) of patients infected with malarial parasites	86/551 (15.6)	13,835/33,500 (41.3)	<.001
Geometric mean parasite density (95% CI), parasites/μL	2205 (1384-3513)	23,878 (22,907-24,891)	<.001

NOTE. Data were not available for some children; some patients were admitted to the hospital more than once. CI, confidence interval; Hb, hemoglobin; IQR, interquartile range; MCV, mean corpuscular volume; WBC, white blood cell.

^aDetermined by use of χ² test, Mann-Whitney test, or Student’s t test, as appropriate.

^bDefined as a weight-for-height z score of <−3 standard deviations or clinical signs of kwashiorkor.

^cMalaria was recorded as a primary or secondary diagnosis at hospital discharge.