Table 2. Comparison of the socio-demographic characteristics among healthy children volunteers.
Parameters such as age, race, gender and previous HFMD history were collected based on recall from our questionnaire. A total of 245 children without signs and symptoms indicative of HFMD at the point of sample collected was recruited. Based on the Pan-Entero RT-PCR assay established previously using clinical samples, we stratified the children according to presence or absence of subclinical infection to identify possible risk factors associated with HFMD.
| Subclinical (%) | No infection (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | (n = 42) | (n = 203) |
| Age (years) | ||
| 3 | 8 (19.0) | 35 (17.2) |
| 4 | 6 (14.3) | 51 (25.1) |
| 5 | 12 (28.6) | 54 (26.6) |
| 6 | 13 (31.0) | 54 (26.6) |
| Not stated | 3 (7.1) | 9 (4.4) |
| Race | ||
| Chinese | 35 (83.3) | 162 (79.8) |
| Malay | 2 (4.8) | 19 (9.4) |
| Indian | 1 (2.4) | 6 (2.9) |
| Eurasian | 1 (2.4) | 1 (0.5) |
| Others | 3 (7.1) | 15 (7.4) |
| Gender | ||
| Male | 22 (52.4) | 93 (45.8) |
| Female | 20 (47.6) | 110 (54.2) |
| Previous HFMD history | ||
| Yes | 18 (42.8) | 88 (43.3) |
| No | 13 (31.0) | 88 (43.3) |
| Failure to indicate | 11 (26.2) | 27 (13.4) |