Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of the patient population
| Combined SM (All children with SMA or CM) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | UM (n = 29) | CM (n = 31) | SMA (n = 27) | P value | Survivors (n = 39) | Deaths (n = 19) | P value |
| Gender (% female) | 48.3 | 58.1 | 48.1 | 0.679 | 48.7 | 63.2 | 0.301 |
| Age (years) | 3.2 (2.1, 7.4)*** | 3.1 (1.5, 4.4)## | 1.3 (1.0, 2.2)##,*** | 0.000 | 1.9 (1.0, 4.0) | 2.1 (1.3, 3.4) | 0.673 |
| Days reported ill prior to presentation |
3 (2, 4)* | 3 (2, 4)## | 4 (3, 5)*,## | 0.004 | 3 (3, 4) | 3 (2, 5) | 0.496 |
| Parasitaemia (parasites/uL) | 6.0 × 104 (9.9 ×103, 1.4 × 105) | 8.2 × 104 (1.8 × 104, 2.8 × 105) | 3.2 × 104 (5.3 × 103, 1.4 × 105) | 0.090 | 3.7 × 104 (6.2 × 103, 1.4 × 105) | 1.6 × 105 (1.8 × 104, 4.4 × 105) | 0.106 |
| Red blood cell haemoglobin (g/dL) | 10.0 (9.2, 11.3)***,$$ | 7.1 (5.8, 9.3)###,$$ | 3.8 (3.2, 4.6)###,*** | 0.000 | 4.7 (3.5, 7.1) | 5.4 (4.6, 8.3) | 0.134 |
| Platelet count (x109/L) | 162 (104, 258)$$$ | 67 (43, 128)$$$ | 126 (86, 180) | 0.001 | 95 (50, 174) | 73 (41, 128) | 0.230 |
| Weight (kg) | 14 (11, 22)*** | 13 (10, 15)## | 10 (7.5, 11)##,*** | 0.000 | 10 (8, 14) | 11 (10, 13) | 0.269 |
| Fatal cases (count) | 0 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 19 | ||
Continuous variables analysed by Mann–Whitney, or Kruskall Wallis with Dunn’s multiple comparisons; categorical variable analysed by Chi square analysis
Median (IQR), uncomplicated malaria (UM), cerebral malaria (CM), severe malarial anaemia (SMA), severe malaria (SM)
Dunn’s multiple comparison tests: UM vs SMA * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001; UM vs CM $$ p < 0.01, $$$ p < 0.001; CM vs SMA # p < 0.05, ## p < 0.01, ### p < 0.001