Table 4. Heterogeneity and the effect of moderators for proportions and case fatality rates according to Blantyre Coma Score in deeply comatose children from descriptive studies of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria.
| Outcome | Number of studies with available data (n) | Overall heterogeneity from random effects model (I 2) | Total estimated heterogeneity in random effects model (τ2) | Final mixed effect model | ||
| Region, τ2 (%) | Year, τ2 (%) | Age, τ2 (%) | ||||
| BCS Score in deep coma: | ||||||
| 0 | 14 | 99.88% | 0.0106 | 0.0118 (NS) | 0.0060 (44)** | 0.0087 (NS) |
| 1 | 13 | 87.72% | 0.0120 | 0.0132 (NS) | 0.0113 (NS) | 0.0117 (NS) |
| 2 | 13 | 96.63% | 0.0522 | 0.0568 (NS) | 0.0354 (32)* | 0.0554 (NS) |
| CFR for BCS Scores | ||||||
| 0 | 6 | 0% | 0 | NA | NA | NA |
| 1 | 3 | 91.12% | 0.0403 | 0.0283 (NS) | 0.0601 (NS) | NA |
| 2 | 3 | 61.18% | 0.0015 | 0 (100)* | 0 (100)* | NA |
BCS, Blantyre Coma Score; CFR, Case Fatality Rate; NS, No statistically significant contribution to overall heterogeneity; * and **, P-values<0.05 and <0.01, respectively.