Table 1. Clinical characteristics of the three groups of pregnant women at the time of antibody feature measurement at enrollment (14–26 weeks’ gestation) and also at delivery.
| Non-infected at delivery | Placental malaria at delivery | Non-placental infection at delivery | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 50 | N = 50 | N = 27 | ||||
| Enrollment | ||||||
| Mean age (years), SD | 24.5 | 5.3 | 24.0 | 5.0 | 23.1 | 4.4 |
| Residence, N (%) | ||||||
| Rural | 37 | (74.0) | 38 | (76.0) | 18 | (66.7) |
| Non-rural | 13 | (26.0) | 12 | (24.0) | 9 | (33.3) |
| Ethnicity, N (%) | ||||||
| Sepik | 6 | (12.0) | 11 | (22.0) | 3 | (11.1) |
| Madang/Morobe | 39 | (78.0) | 30 | (60.0) | 22 | (81.5) |
| Highlander | 3 | (6.0) | 5 | (10.0) | 1 | (3.7) |
| Other | 2 | (4.0) | 4 | (8.0) | 1 | (3.7) |
| Formal schooling, N (%) | 46 | (92.0) | 46 | (92.0) | 25 | (92.6) |
| Smoking, N (%) | 9 | (18.0) | 11 | (22.0) | 6 | (22.2) |
| Betel nut user, N (%)† | 41 | (82.0) | 41 | (82.0) | 24 | (88.9) |
| Alcohol, N (%) | 2 | (4.0) | 2 | (4.0) | 2 | (7.4) |
| Gravidity, N (%) | ||||||
| Primigravidae | 26 | (52.0) | 29 | (58.0) | 14 | (51.9) |
| Secundigravidae | 8 | (16.0) | 7 | (14.0) | 8 | (29.6) |
| Multigravidae | 16 | (32.0) | 14 | (28.0) | 5 | (18.5) |
| IPTp regime, N (%) | ||||||
| SPCQ | 27 | (54.0) | 30 | (60.0) | 18 | (66.7) |
| SPAZ | 23 | (46.0) | 20 | (40.0) | 9 | (33.3) |
| Mean gestational age (days), SD | 145.9 | 31.4 | 147.5 | 31.3 | 152.2 | 19.8 |
| Mean maternal weight (kg), SD* | 54.7 | 13.1 | 53.5 | 8.2 | 54.1 | 7.4 |
| Mean maternal height (cm), SD† | 154.3 | 5.9 | 154.6 | 6.9 | 154.4 | 6.0 |
| Bed net use, N (%) | 34 | (68.0) | 40 | (80.0) | 21 | (77.8) |
| Hb (g/dL), mean SD‡ | 9.7 | 1.2 | 9.3 | 2.0 | 9.4 | 1.2 |
| Light microscopy positive for Pf, N (%) | 2 | (4.0) | 4 | (8.0) | 4 | (14.8) |
| PCR positive for Pf, N (%) | 4 | (8.0) | 5 | (10.0) | 5 | (18.5) |
| Delivery | ||||||
| Placenta light microscopy positive for Pf, N (%) |
0 | (0) | 50 | (100) | 0 | (0) |
| Peripheral blood light microscopy positive for Pf, N (%) | 0 | (0) | 10 | (20) | 13 | (48.2) |
| Peripheral blood PCR positive for Pf, N (%) | 0 | (0) | 13 | (26) | 21 | (77.8) |
| Placental blood PCR positive for Pf, N (%)§ | 1 | (2.0) | 10 | (20) | 10 | (37.04) |
| Birthweight (g), SD | 3062 | 546 | 2827 | 501 | 2840 | 416 |
| Gestation at delivery (days), SD¶ | 278 | 18 | 279 | 16 | 280 | 13 |
| Mean Hb (g/dL), SD | 10.1 | 2 | 9.5 | 1.9 | 10.2 | 1.4 |
* One participant with missing data on betel nut use in placental malaria.
†One participant with missing data on weight in the non-infected group.
‡ Missing Hb data, five in non-infected group, four in placental malaria group, and two in the non-placental infection group.
§ Missing placental PCR data in five non-infected, eight placental malaria, and four non-placental infection women.
¶One participant with missing data on gestation length at delivery in the non-infected group.
SD: standard deviation; Hb: hemoglobin; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; IPTp: intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy; SPAZ: sulfadoxine pyrimethamine-azithromycin; SPCQ: sulfadoxine pyrimethamine-chloroquine.