On the discriminatory and predictive accuracy of the RDT against the microscopy in the diagnosis of malaria among under-five children in Nigeria

Table 1 Distribution of the results of the malaria tests using RDT and microscopy and their association with selected children characteristics in the Nigeria 2015 MIS

Children Characteristic	Number (n = 7011)	%	Malaria test results
Children Characteristic	Number (n = 7011)	%	RDT+ (%)	x² p-value	Micro+ (%)	x² p-value
Child’s age (months)
0–6	755	10.8	21.6	< 0.001*	10.0	< 0.001*
7–23	1914	27.3	36.2		20.3
24–59	4342	61.9	49.5		30.9
Sex
Male	3574	51.0	46.2	0.063	27.8	0.276
Female	3437	49.0	44.0		26.9
Location
Urban	2350	33.5	24.1	< 0.001*	11.4	< 0.001*
Rural	4661	66.5	55.7		35.6
Zone
North Central	1309	18.7	50.7	< 0.001*	32.1	< 0.001*
North East	983	14.0	42.9		26.5
North West	2286	32.6	58.2		37.1
South East	601	8.6	31.7		13.9
South South	780	11.1	28.9		19.4
South West	1053	15.0	32.1		15.3
Usual resident
No	69	1.0	36.8	0.147	25.2	0.598
Yes	6942	99.0	45.2		27.4
Wealth quintile
Poorest	1474	21.0	64.1	< 0.001*	43.1	< 0.001*
Poorer	1612	23.0	62.7		41.0
Middle	1333	19.0	49.2		27.7
Richer	1289	18.4	30.2		16.8
Richest	1303	18.6	12.7		4.3
Slept under ever treated net
No	3963	56.5	42.1	< 0.001*	25.7	< 0.001*
Yes	3048	43.5	49.0		29.5
Slept under LLITNs
No	3980	56.8	42.0	< 0.001*	25.7	< 0.001*
Yes	3031	43.2	49.1		29.5
Fever in last 2 weeks
No	4123	59.0	37.4	< 0.001*	23.7	< 0.001*
Yes	2868	41.0	55.1		32.1
Anaemia level
Severe	224	3.7	87.6	< 0.001*	67.4	< 0.001*
Moderate	2376	39.4	61.9		40.6
Mild	1524	25.3	37.5		20.6
Not anaemic	1905	31.6	25.1		12.9
Total	7011	100.0	41.5		27.3

RDT+ positive on the rapid diagnostic test, Micro+ positive on microscopy test
* Significant at 5% x² test

ISSN: 1475-2875