Table 1.
Baseline infant characteristics
| Variable | Standard Care N= 150 |
Rapid PCR N= 150 |
p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic | Age in months, median (IQR) | 5.1 (2.3 – 8.7) | 4.2 (1.7 – 8.0) | 0.299 |
| Females, n (%) | 74 (49.3) | 79 (52.7) | 0.564 | |
| Breastfeeding, n (%) | 123 (82.0) | 124 (82.7) | 0.880 | |
| Vaccinations up-to-date, n (%) | 85/149 (57.0) | 79/147 (53.7) | 0.567 | |
| Infant enrolled in HIV care, n (%) | 38 (25.3) | 38 (25.3) | 1.000 | |
| PMTCT received by mother, n (%) | 96/148 (64.9) | 93/148 (62.8) | 0.717 | |
| PMTCT received by infant, n (%) | 96 (64.0) | 91 (60.7) | 0.551 | |
| Presenting clinical signs | Temperature in °C, mean (SD) | 37.0 (0.8) | 37.0 (0.8) | 0.787 |
| Heart rate (beats per minute), mean (SD) | 149 (23) | 149 (20) | 0.898 | |
| Respiratory rate (breaths per minute), mean (SD) | 55 (19) | 55 (16) | 0.726 | |
| Oxygen saturation, median (IQR) | 97 (94 – 100) | 98 (95 – 100) | 0.452 | |
| Weight for height z score, mean (SD) | −1.05 (2.04) | −0.98 (1.81) | 0.781 | |
| Laboratories | HIV antibody test positive, n (%) | 119 (79.3) | 115 (76.7) | 0.577 |
| HIV molecular test positive, n (%)1 | 46 (30.7) | 47 (31.3) | 0.901 | |
| CD4%, mean (SD) | 30.4 (14.1) | 33.4 (14.3) | 0.072 | |
| Hemoglobin (g/dL), mean (SD) | 9.7 (2.4) | 10.2 (2.8) | 0.086 | |
| Malaria blood film positive, n (%) | 5/148 (3.4) | 6/150 (4.0) | 1.000 | |
| Blood culture positive, n (%) | 9/149 (6.0) | 7/150 (4.7) | 0.598 | |
| Radiography, n (%) | Abnormal chest radiograph | 81/146 (55.5) | 71/143 (49.7) | 0.321 |
PCR indicates polymerase chain reaction; IQR, interquartile range; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; PMTCT, prevention of mother-to-child transmission; SD, standard deviation.
1
46 standard care patients were DNA PCR-positive and 47 Rapid PCR patients had >10,000 viral copies/ml on RNA PCR