Placental Malaria is associated with reduced early life weight development of affected children independent of low birth weight

Table 2 Association of placental malaria* and anthropometric indicators of infants

Anthropometric indicator	z-scores difference [(PM+) - (PM-)]**	CI 95%	p-value
Weight-for-age
1-3 pregnancies	-0.43	-0.80; -0.07	0.019
≥4 pregnancies	0.02	-0.44; 0.48	0.930
Weight-for-length
1-3 pregnancies	-0.47	-0.84; -0.10	0.013
≥4 pregnancies	0.03	-0.44; 0.50	0.903
BMI-for-age
1-3 pregnancies	-0.57	-0.84; -0.10	0.012
≥4 pregnancies	0.03	-0.43; 0.50	0.889
Length-for-age
All parities	-0.11	-0.37; 0.15	0.405

* Total of past, chronic and active placental malaria (PM)
**Difference in z-scores of PM exposed and unexposed infants (z-score (PM+) - z-score (PM-))
The table presents the results of the Generalized Estimating Equations models investigating a possible association of exposure to maternal PM during pregnancy and anthropometric indicators (weight-for-age (wfa), weight-for-length (wfl), BMI-for-age (BMIfa) and length-for-age (lfa)) of the infants. 1,488 (PM+:135, PM-:1353) z-scores for each of four anthropometric indicators were included in the GEE model (1-3 pregnancies: 833 observations (PM+:86, PM-:747); ≥4 pregnancies: 655 observations (PM+: 49, PM-: 606)). The models account for multiple weight and length measurements at three, six and 12 months of age and confounding factors such as moderate low birth weight below (2,000 g - 2,499 g), infant's age, sex, birth month and year, and duration of maternal education. Significant interactions between PM infection and parity were fitted for the first three anthropometric indicators (wfa, wfl, and BMIfa), but not for lfa.

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