Table 1.
Study population characteristics
| Cerebral malaria (CM) (n = 98) | Severe malarial anemia (SMA) (n = 47) | Asymptomatic P. falciparum parasitemia (AP) (n = 14) | P a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (months), median (IQR) | 41.5 (30.9–54.6) | 33.4 (24.9–52.4) | 48.5 (31.0–71.0) | 0.14 |
| Sex (male), n (%) | 59 (60.2) | 35 (74.5) | 7 (50.0) | 0.14 |
| Weight-for-age z-score, mean (SD) | –1.11 (1.49) n = 97 | –1.98 (1.39) | –0.31 (1.17) | 0.0001b |
| Hemoglobin (g/dL), mean (SD) | 7.07 (2.30) | 3.81 (0.74) | 11.2 (2.15) | <0.0001c |
| Parasite density (/μL), median (IQR) | 67,010 (18,030–347,010) n = 96 | 43,880 (11,940–156,040) n = 46 | 2170 (520–11,880) | <0.0001d |
| Parasite load (PfHRP-2, ng/mL), median (IQR) | 2648 (883–5150) | 862 (288–2033) n = 46 | 88.8 (4.80–158) n = 13 | <0.0001c |
| Sequestered biomass (x10^8), median (IQR)e | 17,928 (5323–39,891) n = 96 | 6249 (1303–15,839) n = 45 | 469 (0–1309) n = 13 | <0.0001c |
aAnalysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey post hoc test adjustment for multiple comparisons with log10 transformed values for variables with no normal distribution. Chi-squared test was used for sex, with P < 0.017 considered significant to control for multiple comparisons.
bIn post hoc testing, SMA differed from CM and AP
cIn post hoc testing, all groups differed from each other
dIn post hoc testing, CM and SMA differed from AP
eSee Methods section for calculation of sequestered parasite biomass
IQR interquartile range, SD standard deviation