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Table 1 Demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients and healthy controls

From: Complement activation in Ghanaian children with severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria

Characteristics

SA

IVH

CM

RD

UM

AC

p value

n

36

18

27

6

21

19

-

Female sex, %

43.7

21.1

40.7

60.0

42.8

47.8

-

Mean Age, years (95% CI)

2.5** (1.8–3.1)

4.8 (3.1–6.6)

4.3 (3.3–5.3)

2.7** (2.0–5.5)

5.2 (3.6–6.8)

5.7 (4.4–7.1)

<0.001b

DCT Positive, n (%)

10* (27.8%)

7* (38.8%)

4 (11.8%)

3* 50.0%

2 (9.5%)

5.0* (26.3%)

<0.05a

Mean Hb, g/dL (95% CI)

4.1 (3.8–4.3)

6.5 (5.6–7.4)

7.2 (6.4–8.0)

5.5 (4.6–6.2)

9.2 (8.5–9.8)

10.9 (10.6–11.4)

-

Parasite density, geometric mean parasites × 103/μL (95% CI)

63.0*** (34.3–94.1)

98.7 (47.6–284.5)

114.9 (67.4–162.6)

80.9 (12.1–256.9)

57.3*** (41.0–107.3)

1.4 (0–2.9)

<0.001b

Spleen size, cm (95% CI)

2.3 (1.5–3.0)

0.6(0–1.6)

0.7 (0.1–1.4)

ND

1.9 (0.6–3.2)

ND

-

  1. Non-overlapping patient groups (see text). SA, severe anaemia (Hb < 5 g/dL). IVH, intravascular haemolysis with evidence of haemoglobinuria. CM, cerebral malaria (coma score ≤ 3). RD, respiratory distress. UM, uncomplicated malaria with Hb > 8 g/dL. AC, healthy, asymptomatic controls. DCT, direct Coombs' test. *Significantly higher than UM and CM. ** Significantly lower than CM, UM and AC. *** Significantly lower than IVH and CM. ND, not done.
  2. a = Calculated using X2
  3. b = Calculated using ANOVA