Table 1.
Patient characteristics for Malawian children younger than 5 years without sepsis (malarial and non-malarial fever) and with sepsis (malarial and non-malarial sepsis)
| No sepsis | Sepsis | P-value across groups | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malarial fever (N = 29) | Non-malarial fever (N = 25) | Malarial sepsis (N = 17) | Non-malarial sepsis (N = 16) | ||
| Demographics | |||||
| Age (months), median (interquartile range) | 20 (12–28) | 26 (20–35) | 30 (20–40) | 16 (10–23) | 0.01 |
| Female gender, n (%) | 18 (62) | 11 (44) | 11 (65) | 11(69) | 0.35 |
| Nutritional status | |||||
| Weight-for-height Z-score, mean (SD) | −1.1 (1.2) | −1.0 (1.7) | −1.1 (1.4) | −2.1 (1.4) | 0.1 |
| Height-for-age, mean (SD) | 0.4 (2.6) | −0.2 (2.5) | −0.9 (1.9) | 1.2 (2.5) | 0.09 |
| Weight-for-age Z-score, mean (SD) | −0.7 (1.4) | −0.9 (1.3) | −1.3 (1) | −1 (1.1) | 0.48 |
| Laboratory values | |||||
| Hemoglobin (g/dL), mean (SD) | 9.6 (1.8) | 11.4 (1.3) | 9.7 (1.9) | 11.3 (0.9) | < 0.0001 |
| White blood cell count, mean (SD) | 9.9 (2.7) | 10.1 (2.8) | 8.6 (4.9) | 12.6(6.3) | N/A |
| Absolute neutrophil count, mean (SD) | 4.1 (1.6) | 4.3 (2.7) | 3.9 (3.1) | 4.5 (3.3) | 0.9 |
| Absolute lymphocyte count, mean (SD) | 4.3 (2) | 4.6 (1.7) | 3.5 (2.3) | 6.3(4.2) | < 0.0001 |
| Platelet count × 103, mean (SD) | 252 (176) | 389 (150) | 198 (172) | 427 (148) | 0.0001 |
| Glucose (mg/dL), mean (SD) | 107 (23) | 96 (16) | 98 (24) | 93(23) | 0.13 |
| Serum available, n/total study sample (%) | 29/39 (74) | 25/30 (83) | 17/20 (85) | 16/20 (80) | 0.73 |
| Recent past medical history (within the last 3 months) | |||||
| Antibiotics, n (%) | 16(55) | 12 (48) | 7 (41) | 8 (50) | 0.8 |
| Antimalarial, n (%) | 6 (21) | 1(4) | 4 (24) | 0 (0) | 0.052 |
| Hospital admission, n (%) | 2 (7) | 1(4) | 3 (18) | 0 (0) | 0.21 |
| Immunization history | |||||
| Pneumococcal, n (%) | 29 (100) | 25 (100) | 17 (100) | 16 (100) | N/A |
| Rotavirus, n (%) | 29 (100) | 24 (96) | 16 (94) | 16 (100) | 0.5 |
N/A = not applicable. A P-value is provided for the comparison across all four groups. Tests of significance: Kruskal–Wallis (medians); chi-squared (percents); ANOVA (means). A P-value for WBC count is not included as this is a SIRS criterion used to define subgroups.