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. 2015 Oct 7;93(4):779–789. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.14-0618

Table 1.

Predictors of Plasmodium falciparum infection among school children in Zomba District, Malawi in 2011

Variable* No. (%) of children (N = 2,667) No. (%) children with P. falciparum (N = 1,601) Univariable analysis Multivariable analysis
OR (95% CI) P value Adjusted OR (95% CI) (N = 2,364) P value
Sex
 Male 1,271 (47.7) 780 (61.4) Reference
 Female 1,396 (52.3) 821 (58.8) 0.90 (0.76, 1.05) 0.179
Age (per additional year) 11.81 (3.15) 0.93 (0.91, 0.96) < 0.001
Age (years)
 5–9 660 (24.7) 420 (63.6) Reference Reference
 10–12 1,125 (42.2) 724 (64.4) 1.02 (0.83, 1.26) 0.98 (0.79, 1.23)
 13–18 882 (33.1) 457 (51.8) 0.60 (0.48, 0.74) < 0.001 0.55 (0.43, 0.69) < 0.001
WAZ§
 Not underweight 681 (82.4) 436 (64.0) Reference
 Underweight 146 (17.6) 96 (65.8) 1.09 (0.73, 1.63) 0.661
HAZ§
 Not stunted 1,881 (71.0) 1,093 (58.1) Reference Reference
  Stunted 768 (29.0) 449 (65.0) 1.33 (1.11, 1.60) 0.002 1.33 (1.09, 1.62) 0.004
BMIZ§
 Not thin 2,480 (93.6) 1,488 (60.0) Reference
 Thin 169 (6.4) 104 (61.5) 1.08 (0.78, 1.51) 0.633
De-wormed
 No 526 (21.2) 310 (58.9) Reference
 Yes 1,958 (78.8) 1,187(60.6) 1.09 (0.89, 1.34) 0.420
Net use last night (child reported)
 No 1,798 (67.6) 1,107 (61.6) Reference Reference
 Yes 860 (32.4) 487 (56.6) 0.83 (0.70, 0.99) 0.034 0.79 (0.66, 0.96) 0.017
Reported fever in last 2 weeks
 No 1,678 (63.4) 1,046 (62.3) Reference Reference
 Yes 967 (36.6) 541 (56.0) 0.81 (0.68, 0.96) 0.016 0.79 (0.66, 0.95) 0.011
Reported fever now
 No 1,905 (72.1) 1,134 (59.5) Reference
 Yes 736 (27.9) 449 (61.0) 1.08 (0.90, 1.30) 0.390
Household level
 Education of household head
  No education 440 (17.5) 273 (62.1) Reference Reference
  Some/completed primary 1,755 (69.6) 1,064 (60.6) 0.91 (0.73, 1.13) 0.89 (0.70, 1.14)
  Some/completed secondary 326 (12.9) 173 (53.1) 0.63 (0.47, 0.86) 0.007 0.65 (0.46, 0.92) 0.036
 Socioeconomic status
  Poorest 494 (20.2) 293 (59.3) Reference Reference
  Poor 501 (20.4) 302 (60.3) 1.10 (0.85, 1.43) 1.08 (0.82, 1.42)
  Medium 527 (21.5) 349 (66.2) 1.31 (1.00, 1.71) < 0.001 1.30 (0.98, 1.72) < 0.001
  Less poor 445 (18.2) 279 (62.7) 1.15 (0.88, 1.51) 1.26 (0.94, 1.70)
  Least poor 484 (19.7) 239 (49.4) 0.67 (0.52, 0.88) 0.74 (0.55, 1.00)
 Number of people in house 5.28 (2.27) 1.02 (0.98–1.06) 0.360
 Number of nets in house
  No nets 747 (30.4) 456 (61.0) Reference Reference
  1–2 nets 1,161 (47.3) 729 (62.8) 1.14 (0.93–1.39) 1.12 (0.91, 1.39)
  ≥ 3 nets 546 (22.3) 283 (51.8) 0.74 (0.58–0.93) < 0.001 0.83 (0.64, 1.08) 0.036
School level
 School feeding
  No 2,283 (85.6) 1,385 (60.7) Reference
  Yes 384 (14.4) 216 (56.3) 0.85 (0.55, 1.31) 0.449

BMI = body mass index for age; CI = confidence interval; HAZ = height for age; OR = odds ratio; SES = socioeconomic status; WAZ = weight for age.

*

Displayed as number and percentage except for continuous variables, displayed as mean and standard deviation (SD).

All characteristics have less than 2% missing data with the exception of following indicators: WAZ, deworming (7.0% missing), education level of household head (4.5% missing) SES, and reported net use (8.0% missing).

P value is from likelihood ratio test comparing multilevel logistic regression models (accounting for school level clustering), with and without the factor of interest.

§

Underweight, stunted and thin defined as WAZ, HAZ, and BMIZ z-scores < 2 SD.

WAZ only calculated for children aged 5–10 years (thus only presented for 827 children).