Table 2.

Characteristics during pregnancy and at delivery for 35 women infected at delivery, by their parasitologic follow-up, in the postpartum period, Benin^*

Characteristic	No parasitologic follow-up† (n = 15)	Parasitologic follow-up‡ (n = 20)	P
Mean age, years, (SD)	22.7 (4.7)	24.2 (5.5)	0.41
No. (%) primigravidae	6 (40)§	9 (45)	0.77
No. (%) slept under a bed net the night before enrollment	6 (40)	10 (50)	0.56
No. (%) received mefloquine for IPTp	2 (15)	7 (39)	0.24
No. (%) did not receive second IPTp dose	2 (13)	2 (10)	0.99
No. (%) positive parasitemia at enrollment	1 (7)	1 (5)	0.99
No. (%) positive parasitemia at second IPTp administration	2 (15)	5 (28)	0.67
At delivery
Median peripheral parasitemia/mm3 (IQR)	28,000 (2,162–112,444)	2,734 (722–22,114)	0.02
No. (%) with parasitemia > 2,500 parasites/mm3	11 (73)	10 (50)	0.16
No. (%) with parasitemia > 10,000 parasites/mm3	9 (60)	6 (30)	0.08
No. (%) with clinical signs	11 (67)	0 (0)	0.001
No. (%) with placental malaria¶	13 (87)	15 (75)	0.67

^*Percentages were compared by using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, means and medians were compared by using the Student's t-test and the Kruskal Wallis test, respectively. IPTp = intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy; IQR = interquartile range.

^†Women who received an antimalarial drug before being tested (n = 13) or women lost to follow-up after discharge from the maternity clinic (n = 2).

^‡Women who cleared their parasitemia spontaneously (n = 18) or had a decreased parasitemia in the early postpartum period before being treated (n = 2).

^§Among 11 symptomatic women, 6 (55%) were primigravid.

^¶Placental malaria was defined as the presence of asexual-stage parasites in the placental thick blood smear.