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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Feb 5.
Published in final edited form as: N Engl J Med. 2015 Oct 14;377(15):1428–1437. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1511410

Table 1.

Characteristics of Study Participants at Baseline, According to Study Site and Phase.*

Characteristic Freetown Site Lungi Site Total
Phase 1 (N = 100) Phase 2 (N = 60) Phase 2 (N = 60) Phases 1 and 2 (N = 220)
Recruitment period May 27, 2015–July 7, 2015 Nov. 11, 2015–Feb. 17, 2016 Feb. 3, 2016–May 12, 2016 May 27, 2015–May 12, 2016

Age

 Mean — yr 29.7±8.4 31.3±8.3 34.8±11.5 31.5±9.5

 Median (interquartile range) — yr 27 (24–34) 30 (25–36) 34 (26–43) 29 (25–36)

 Distribution — no./total no. (%)

  ≤25 yr 36/99 (36) 18/60 (30) 13/60 (22) 67/219 (31)

  26–35 yr 44/99 (44) 25/60 (42) 22/60 (37) 91/219 (42)

  >35 yr 19/99 (19) 17/60 (28) 25/60 (42) 61/219 (28)

Highest level of education — no. (%)

 No education 14 (14) 10 (17) 19 (32) 43 (20)

 Primary education 49 (49) 13 (22) 8 (13) 70 (32)

 Secondary education 37 (37) 37 (62) 33 (55) 107 (49)

Marital status — no. (%)

 Married or in a long-term relationship 51 (51) 31 (52) 40 (67) 122 (55)

 Single, divorced, widowed, or separated 49 (49) 29 (48) 20 (33) 98 (45)

Current household size, including self — no./total no. (%)

 ≤4 persons 32/100 (32) 17/57 (30) 7/59 (12) 56/216 (26)

 5–8 persons 30/100 (30) 35/57 (61) 8/59 (14) 73/216 (34)

 9–12 persons 27/100 (27) 4/57 (7) 12/59 (20) 43/216 (20)

 >12 persons 11/100 (11) 1/57 (2) 32/59 (54) 44/216 (20)

No. of household members with EVD, excluding self — no. (%)

 0 36 (36) 16 (27) 6 (10) 58 (26)

 1 or 2 34 (34) 16 (27) 11 (18) 61 (28)

 3 or 4 15 (15) 13 (22) 14 (23) 42 (19)

 ≥5 15 (15) 15 (25) 29 (48) 59 (27)

Duration between ETU discharge and semen-specimen collection

 Mean — mo 5.9±1.9 11.5±3.2 15.6±2.9 10.0±4.9

 Median (interquartile range) — mo 6.2 (4.5–7.1) 11.3 (9.0–14.0) 15.5 (13.7–17.5) 8.6 (6.2–14.2)

 Range — mo 1.3–11.2 4.1–19.3 8.5–22.3 1.3–22.3

 No semen specimen — no. 2 5 3 10

Result of Ebola RT-PCR semen testing at baseline — no./total no. (%)

 Positive 46/98 (47) 8/55 (15) 3/57 (5) 57/210 (27)

 Indeterminate 13/98 (13) 0/55 0/57 13/210 (6)

 Negative 39/98 (40) 47/55 (85) 54/57 (95) 140/210 (67)
*

Plus–minus values are means ±SD. The Freetown site is in an urban area, and the Lungi site in a semiurban area. Percentages may not total 100 because of rounding. ETU denotes Ebola treatment unit, EVD Ebola virus disease, and RT-PCR reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction.

Primary education was defined as 1 to 8 years of school, and secondary education as more than 8 years of school.

An indeterminate result indicates that one of the gene targets was detected and one was not detected; this finding applies only to the assay from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was used during phase 1.