Reactive case detection of Plasmodium falciparum in western Kenya highlands: effective in identifying additional cases, yet limited effect on transmission

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population

Parameters	Study group			P value^§
Parameters	Index case household	Neighbour	Control	I vs. N	I vs. C
Total homesteads screened	43	202	168
Total population screened	158	612	510
Median age (years)^a	11	15	15	0.802	0.802
Parasite prevalence (% individual)
PCR	28.9	25.3	12.9	0.484	< 0.001
Microscopy	8.3	10.3	4.7	0.708	0.059
Age group (% individual)
< 4.9	29 (18.4)	124 (20.3)	77 (15.1)
5 ~ 14.9	62 (39.2)	170 (27.8)	165 (32.4)	0.018	0.084
≥ 15	67 (42.4)	318 (52.0)	268 (52.5)
Sex (% individual)^b
Male	63 (39.9)	230 (37.8)	205 (40.5)	0.624	0.888
Female	95 (60.1)	379 (62.2)	301 (59.5)
Occupation (% individual for age ≥ 15 only)
Sample size^c	67	318	268
Peasant farmer	49 (73.1)	227 (71.4)	176 (65.7)
Employed	3 (4.5)	16 (5.0)	20 (7.4)
Student	9 (13.4)	38 (11.9)	35 (13.1)	0.865	0.562
Other	0 (0.0)	5 (1.6)	6 (2.2)
Unknown	6 (9.0)	32 (10.1)	31 (11.6)
Bed net ownership (% household)	137 (86.7)	554 (90.1)	477 (93.5)	0.159	0.006
Use of bed net (% individual)	128 (81.0)	510 (83.3)	439 (86.1)	0.488	0.121
Travel within previous 14 days	0 (0.0)	3 (0.5)	7 (1.4)	0.501	0.149

^§P value: column I vs. N—comparison of index case household vs. neighbour and column I vs. C—comparison of index case household vs. control
^aData analyzed using Kruskal–Walls H test
^bRecords missing: 3 from neighbouring and 4 from control groups
^cFor age ≥ 15 only

ISSN: 1475-2875