Table 1.
Baseline and endline characteristics of the Ghana trial participants
| Baseline | Endline | |
| Trial participants with a geocoded residence (n) Males (%) Age at enrolment (months), mean (SD)* Serum ferritin (µg/L), geometric mean (SD) Parasite density (count/µL), geometric mean (SD) C-reactive protein (mg/L), mean (SD) |
1943 992 (51.1) 19.2 (8.5) 35.1 (3.65) 3003.0 (5.35) 3.34 (4.96) |
1780 900 (50.5) 19.3 (8.5) 73.9 (3.58) 4160.4 (6.30) 3.86 (5.10) |
| Infection status | ||
| Inflammation without parasitaemia†, n (%) Inflammation and/or parasitaemia‡, n (%) Parasitaemia with fever§¶ n (%) All parasitaemia**, n (%) |
272 (14.0) 719 (37.0) 150 (7.72) 447 (23.0) |
258 (14.5) 741 (41.6) 555 (28.6) 483 (27.1) |
| Anthropometric status†† | ||
| Weight-for-length z-score, mean (SD) Length-for-age z-score, mean (SD) |
−0.63 (0.97) −0.81 (1.21) |
−0.62 (0.97) −0.80 (1.29) |
| Maternal Education, n (%)‡‡ | ||
| None Any |
586 (33.5) 1166 (66.5) |
543 (33.0) 1105 (67.0) |
| Household Asset Score, n (%)§§ | ||
| Low High |
900 (49.0) 938 (51.0) |
817 (47.7) 897 (52.3) |
*Measured at baseline only.
†Inflammation without parasitaemia (n=1780) = CRP >5 mg/L without malaria parasitaemia.
‡Inflammation and/or parasitaemia (n=1780) = CRP >5 mg/L and/or any malaria parasitaemia.
§Parasitaemia with fever (n=1939) = any malaria parasitaemia with concurrent fever (axillary temperature >37.5°C) or history of reported fever (within 48 hours).
¶Endline value represents the period prevalence for 1939 participants.
**All parasitaemia (n=1780) = any malaria parasitaemia (with/without fever).
††Measured at baseline; z-scores estimated using the WHO Child Growth Standards.23
‡‡Measured at baseline only; total n=1752 (74 respondents were not mothers, 117 missing due to incomplete surveys).
§§Measured at baseline only; Low= below median, High = above median; reduced sample size (approximately 1825) due to incomplete surveys and ‘unknown’ responses.
CRP, C-reactive protein.