Table 2. Baseline characteristics by severity of anaemia.
| Variable | Hb <4g/dl n (%) | Hb 4 to <6
g/dl n (%) |
Hb ≥6/dl n (%) | Total n (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | N = 1143 (3.9) | N =2326 (8.0) | N = 25,757 (88.1) | N = 29226 |
| Age Group (months)
2–11 m 12–23m 24–59m ≥60 m |
254 (22.2) 285 (24.9) 381 (33.3) 223 (19.5) |
596 (25.6) 648 (27.9) 766 (32.9) 316 (13.6) |
7774 (30.2) 6256 (24.3) 7490 (29.1) 4237 (16.5) |
8624 (29.5) 7189 (24.6) 8637 (29.6) 4776 (16.4) |
| Sex Males (%) | 603 (52.8) | 1282 (55.1) | 14483 (56.2) | 16368 (56.0) |
| Fever: axillary temp ≥37.5C | 591 (51.8) | 1454 (62.5) | 15137 (58.8) | 17182 (58.8) |
| Pallor | 1086 (95.0) | 1796 (77.2) | 4967 (19.3) | 7849 (26.9) |
| Visable Jaundice | 55 (4.8) | 124 (5.3) | 370 (1.4) | 549 (1.9) |
| WAZ ≤ -3 a | 354 (31.0) | 667 (28.7) | 4893 (19.0) | 5914 (20.2) |
| MUAC ≤11.5 cm b | 213 (18.6) | 427 (18.4) | 3555 (13.8) | 4195 (14.4) |
| Weak pulse volume | 163 (14.3) | 143 (6.2) | 1051 (4.1) | 1357 (4.6) |
| Tachycardia 13 | 115 (10.1) | 412 (17.7) | 3884 (15.1) | 4411 (15.1) |
| Capillary refill time ≥3s | 300 (26.3) | 283 (12.2) | 1136 (4.4) | 1719 (5.9) |
| Temperature gradient | 245 (21.4) | 419 (18.0) | 3563 (13.8) | 4227 (14.5) |
| Strict shock definition c | 35 (3.1) | 13 (0.6) | 94 (0.4) | 142 (0.5) |
| Severe dehydration d | 81 (7.1) | 200 (8.6) | 3967 (15.4) | 4248 (14.5) |
| Indrawing | 279 (24.4) | 545 (23.4) | 6514 (25.3) | 7338 (25.1) |
| Deep breathing e | 252 (22.1) | 350 (15.1) | 2502 (9.7) | 3104 (10.6) |
| Hypoxaemia(pulse oximetry)
Oxygen saturation <90% |
118 (10.3) | 138 (5.9) | 1232 (4.8) | 1488 (5.1) |
| Base excess <-8 f | 383 (52.2) | 547 (35.1) | 5632 (39.9) | 6562 (40.0) |
| Conscious level
g
Alert/Normal Prostration/Coma |
809 (83.8) 157 (16.3) |
1739 (87.1) 257 (12.9) |
20998 (94.3) 1274 (5.7) |
23546 (93.3) 1688 (6.7) |
| High malaria parasitaemia h | 539 (47.2) | 1252 (53.8) | 6104 (23.7) | 7895 (27.0) |
| HIV antibody positive i | 17/223 (7.6) | 52/446 (11.7) | 524/6811 (7.7) | 593/7480 (7.9) |
| Pathogenic bacterial isolate | 63 (5.5) | 172 (7.4) | 1023 (4.0) | 1258 (4.3) |
aWAZ: weight for age Z-score
bMUAC: mid-upper arms circumference
cPresence of weak pulse volume & capillary refill time ≥3s & temperature gradient
dPresence of sunken eyes of decreased skin turgor
eKussmaul’s breathing
fExcludes missing observations (for base excess: number of missing observations = 12819 (43.9%), for conscious level: number of missing observations = 3992 (13.7%)
gProstration: inability to sit upright (if >8months) or feed; coma failure to localise a painful stimulas
jhyperparasitaemia defined as:
- percentage_parasitaemia= (malaria parasites (mps) per 100 white blood cells (wbc)/100)*wbc*1000 >10, or as percentage_parasitaemia= (mps500 red blood cells (rbc)/500)*rbc*1000000 >10
iExcluding cases that were not tested, discordant, and missing observations (number excluded = 21746 (74.4%))