Table 1.
Characteristics of pregnant women and their neonates
| Characteristica | PM positive (n = 96) | PM negative (n = 324) | p value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age in years (mean ± SD) | 27.6 ± 4.6 | 29.4 ± 5.6 | 0.0012 |
| Gravidity (mean ± SD) | 4.5 ± 1.6 | 5.2 ± 2.0 | 0.0002 |
| Prevalence of women with peripheral malaria by blood smears, n (%) | 68 (70.8 %) | 5 (1.5 %) | <0.0001 |
| Peripheral malaria parasitaemia among all women, parasites/µL (mean ± SD) | 0.2 ± 0.6 | 0.0 ± 0.02 | 0.0011 |
| Peripheral malaria parasitaemia among blood smear positive women parasites/µL (mean ± SD) | 0.3 ± 0.7 | 0.1 ± 0.5 | 0.12 |
| Prevalence of women with placental parasitaemia, n (%) | 96 (100 %) | 0 (0 %) | |
| Placental parasitaemia by impression smears, (%) (mean ± SD) | 3.5 ± 7.6 | 0 ± 0 | |
| Pre-term deliveries, n (%) | 16 (16.7 %) | 63 (19.4 %) | 0.59 |
| Length of pregnancy in weeks (mean ± SD) | 39.1 ± 2.7 | 39.1 ± 3.0 | 0.95 |
| Full-term deliveries | 39.9 ± 1.7 | 40.3 ± 1.5 | 0.12 |
| Pre-term deliveries | 34.3 ± 1.7 | 34.0 ± 2.4 | 0.50 |
| Intra-uterine growth restriction, n (%) | 2 (2.1 %) | 9 (2.8 %) | 0.99 |
| Maternal anaemia at delivery, n (%) | 24 (25.0 %) | 39 (12.0 %) | 0.0055 |
| Haematocrit in % (mean ± SD) | 32.0 ± 5.0 | 34.7 ± 5.1 | <0.0001 |
| Low birth weight babies, n (%) | 11 (11.5 %) | 30 (9.3 %) | 0.68 |
| Among full-term deliveries | 2 (2.5 %) | 8 (3.2 %) | 1.00 |
| Among pre-term deliveries | 8 (53.3 %) | 20 (33.9 %) | 0.30 |
| Neonate weight in grams (mean ± SD) | 3139 ± 600 | 3257 ± 611 | 0.10 |
| Full-term deliveries | 3303 ± 433 | 3393 ± 478 | 0.13 |
| Pre-term deliveries | 2337 ± 667 | 2681 ± 739 | 0.10 |
aFor the univariate analyses, two-sample t tests for continuous variables and Chi square or Fisher’s exact tests for categorical variables were used to compare women in PM+ and PM-
p values that were less than 0.05 were designated in italics