Asymptomatic only at first sight: malaria infection among schoolchildren in highland Rwanda

Malaria Journal

Table 4 Clinical manifestations of Plasmodium spp. infection among 1071 Rwandan schoolchildren

Parameter	Uninfected	Infected (PCR positive)	P	Microscopic infection	P	Submicroscopic infection	P
No.	823	240		148^b		100
Anaemia (%)	29.6	60.4	0.0001	64.2	0.0001	52.0	0.0001
Hb (g/dL; median, range)	12.6 (7.1–16.6)	11.6 (6.0–15.1)	0.0001	11.5 (6.8–15.1)	0.0001	11.9 (6.0–14.5)	0.0001
Current fever (%)	1.0	7.5	0.0001	10.8	0.0001	2.0	0.30
Ax. Temperature (°C; mean ± SD)	36.4 ± 0.4	36.6 ± 0.8	0.0001	36.7 ± 0.9	0.0001	36.5 ± 0.5	0.059
WAZ (SD; median, range)	−0.98 (−3.87–2.02)	−1.25 (−4.51–2.02)	0.001	−1.40 (−4.51–2.02)	0.0001	−1.00 (−3.44–0.42)	0.93
Underweight (WAZ < −2 SD, %)	14.1	20.8	0.045	27.0	0.0001	14.0	0.92
MUAC (cm; mean ± SD)^c	16.3 ± 1.3	15.9 ± 1.1	<0.0001	15.9 ± 1.2	0.0002	15.9 ± 1.0	0.007
Clinically assessed malnutrition (%)	19.8	28.3	0.005	35.1	0.0001	21.0	0.67
History within preceding 2 weeks (%)
Fever	19.8	45.0	0.0001	46.6	0.0001	41.0	0.0001
Tiredness	10.6	24.2	0.0001	25.0	0.0001	23.0	0.0001
Vomiting	6.6	14.6	0.0001	14.9	0.0001	14.0	0.0001
Abdominal pain	30.3	45.8	0.001	48.6	0.0001	40.0	0.088
Poor appetite	17.6	27.1	0.023	25.0	0.122	30.0	0.006
Weakness^a	14.8	25.1	0.006	23.9	0.018	26.8	0.003

ISSN: 1475-2875