Table 2.
Clinical and demographic characteristics of pregnant women with and without placental malaria
| Risk factors | n | Placental malaria | p† | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maternal | Positive | Negative | ||
| IPTp | ||||
| Intervention arm | 726/1451 | 126 (46.8) | 600 (50.8) | 0.246 |
| Control arm | 725/1451 | 143 (53.2) | 582 (49.2) | |
| Clinical malaria | 172/1448 | 43 (25.0) | 129 (75.0) | 0.020 |
| MUAC (cm) | 379/1420 | 78 (20.6) | 301 (79.4) | 0.212 |
| Weight (kg) | 54.3 [± 9.7] | 53 [± 8.0] | 55 [± 10.0] | 0.007 ♦ |
| Age (years) | 24.5 [± 5.4] | 23 [± 5.0] | 25 [± 5.5] | 0.003 ♦ |
| Gravidity | ||||
| Primigravidae | 738/1449 | 164 (61.0) | 574 (48.6) | 0.001 |
| Secundigravidae | 309/1449 | 48 (17.8) | 261 (22.2) | |
| Multigravidae | 402/1449 | 57 (21.2) | 345 (29.2) | |
| Ethnic group | ||||
| Sepik | 258/1450 | 46 (17.1) | 212 (82.2) | 0.025 |
| Madang/morobe | 934/1450 | 190 (70.6) | 744 (79.7) | |
| Highlands | 125/1450 | 12 (4.5) | 113 (90.4) | |
| Other | 133/1450 | 21 (7.8) | 112 (84.2) | |
| Place of residence | ||||
| Rural | 827/1445 | 190 (70.6) | 637 (77.0) | ≤ 0.001 |
| Peri-urban | 282/1445 | 41 (15.2) | 241 (20.5) | |
| Migrant | 75/1445 | 15 (5.6) | 60 (5.1) | |
| Urban | 261/1445 | 23 (8.6) | 238 (20.2) | |
| Bednet use | ||||
| Not used | 328/1445 | 57 (21.3) | 271 (23.0) | 0.064 |
| Used, not ITN | 600/1445 | 128 (47.8) | 472 (40.1) | |
| Used, ITN | 517/1445 | 83 (30.9) | 434 (36.9) | |
| Socio-economic | ||||
| Employment | ||||
| Subsistence farmer | 313/745 | 62 (42.2) | 251 (41.9) | 0.700 |
| Self-employed | 149/745 | 26 (17.7) | 123 (20.6) | |
| Wage earner | 283/745 | 59 (40.1) | 224 (37.5) | |
| Literate | 1371/1450 | 257 (18.8) | 1114 (81.2) | 0.429 |
| Betel nut chewer | 1198/1444 | 221 (18.5) | 977 (81.5) | 0.926 |
| Smoker | 282/1450 | 45 (16.0) | 237 (84.0) | 0.212 |
| Alcohol consumer | 83/1446 | 9 (10.8) | 74 (89.2) | 0.063 |
Data are number (%), or mean [standard deviation]
IPTp intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy, MUAC mid-upper arm circumference, ITN insecticide-treated bed nets
†Estimated by Pearson Chi squared and ♦ Student t tests, p values are shown. p < 0.05 marked in italic