Table 2. Heterogeneity and the effect of moderators on heterogeneity for the proportions of children presenting with different clinical features in descriptive studies of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

Outcome of interest	Number of studies with available data (n)	Overall heterogeneity from random effects model (I 2)	Total estimated heterogeneity in random effects model (τ2)	Effect of moderators on heterogeneity (τ2)				Final mixed effect model
				Definition, τ2 (%)	Region, τ2 (%)	Year, τ2 (%)	Age, τ2 (%)	Moderators included	Residual heterogeneity, τ2 (%)
Clinical manifestation proportion:
Deep coma	37	99.8%	0.0355	0.0177 (50)***	0.0318 (10)*	0.0343 (NS)	0.0292 (18)**	Def+Age	0.0167 (53)*
Metabolic acidosis	11	98.9%	0.0128	0.0070 (45)**	0.0131 (NS)	0.0081 (37)*	0.0139 (NS)	Def	0.0070 (45)**
Severe anemia	35	99.5%	0.0265	0.0228 (14)*	0.0266 (NS)	0.0258 (NS)	0.0273 (NS)	Def	0.0228 (14)*
Hypoglycemia	31	99.6%	0.0048	0.0046 (NS)	0.0043 (10)*	0.0049 (NS)	0.0049 (NS)	Region	0.0043 (10)*
Coma/anemia/acidosis overlap syndromea	5	71.9%	0.0001	0.0001 (NS)	0.0001 (NS)	0.0001 (NS)	0.0001 (NS)	Nil	0.0001

NS, No statistically significant contribution to overall heterogeneity; Def, Definition; *, ** and ***, P-values<0.05, <0.01 and <0.0001, respectively;

^achildren with an overlapping syndrome comprising coma, severe anemia and any of: metabolic acidosis, respiratory distress or hyperlactatemia.