Table 1.

Comparison of characteristics of cases and controls

Variable	Cases N=100	Controls N=100	P value
Mean age in months (SD)	25 (15.9)	24 (15)	0.49
% female	39	45	0.39
Mean age of caretaker in years (SD)	25.6 (6.8)	24.8 (6.7)	0.44
% with a mother as caretaker of child	91	91	1.0
Caretaker's marital status	72	81	0.13
% of caretakers with at least primary level education	89	86	0.36
Mean number of malaria episodes in previous year (range)	3 (0–10)	3 (0–20)	0.60
Haemoglobin AA	93 (93%)	92 (92%)	0.213
Haemoglobin AS	2 (2%)	5 (5%)
Haemoglobin SS	3 (3%)	0
Mean parasite density	175,514	73,052	0.002