Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of children with cerebral malaria included in the final analysed population
Demographic, clinical, outcome measure | Anti-malarial | P value for difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
Quinine-treated (2010–2013) (n = 259) | Artesunate-treated (2014–2019) (n = 206) | ||
Age (months): mean, SD | 50.9 (28.1) | 49.9 (29.8) | 0.711 |
Gender: N male (% male) | 136 (52.5) | 109 (52.9) | 1.000 |
Splenomegaly (%) | 33.6 | 22.3a | 0.009 |
Glucose mmoL/L: mean (SD) | 7.08 (3.49) | 6.14 (2.84)b | 0.002 |
Haematocrit (admission) mean (SD) | 22.6 (6.45)c | 23.8 (6.74) | 0.052 |
Parasites/µl: mean (SD) | 260,872 (458,810) | 187,612 (278,800) | |
Log (parasites): mean (SD) | 11.48 (1.63) | 10.84 (1.94) | < 0.001 |
HRP-2 (ng/ml): mean (SD) | 7,909 (10,028) | 5441 (10,693) | |
Log (HRP-2): mean (SD) | 7.30 (2.65) | 6.96 (2.23) | 0.001 |
Pre-treatment with anti-malarial (%) | 222 (85.7) | 180 (87.4) | 0.70 |
Blantyre Coma Score: N (%) | 0.18 | ||
0 | 22 (8.5) | 26 (12.6) | |
1 | 103 (39.8) | 68 (33.0) | |
2 | 134 (51.7) | 112 (54.4) | |
Outcomesd | 0.732 | ||
Died: N (%) | 46 (17.8) | 30 (14.6) | |
Neurological sequelae at hospital discharge: N (%) | 21 (8.1) | 16 (7.8) | |
Full recovery: N (%) | 188 (72.6) | 158 (76.7) | |