Table 2

Demographic characteristics of patients in the three populations


Thailand
The Gambia
Tanzania

Total number of patients
7548
2020
1400

Age (years)1
13 (2–43)
4 (1–10)
4 (1–32)

Male2
3183 (56%)
613 (54%)
487 (43%)

History of illness (days)1
2 (0–5)
No Data
3 (0–7)

Symptoms present2
5458 (97%)
No Data
922 (88%)

Haematocrit (%)1
35 (25–44)
30 (20–39)
31 (18–40)4

Palpable liver2
868 (16%)
221 (20%)
No Data

Palpable spleen2
1197 (22%)
517 (45%)
No Data

Axillary temperature1
37.7 (36.1–39.6)
37.8 (36.2–40)
No Data

Parasitaemia (/μL)1
6,920 (166–183,920)
32,500 (1,360–311,575)
59,400 (7,992–271,913)5

Parasitaemia (/μL)2,3



     ≤ 1,600
1,867 (25%)
117 (6%)
395 (28%)
     1,600–4,000
1,100 (15%)
142 (7%)
454 (32%)
     4,000–20,000
2,206 (29%)
499 (25%)
262 (19%)
     > 20,000
2,330 (31%)
1,262 (62%)
289 (21%)

1 median and 90% range are presented.

2 number (%) of patients with this characteristic.

3 n = 49 patients in Thailand had confirmed parasitaemia on admission but the actual count was not recorded.

4 data available for n = 65.

5 data available for n = 257.

Stepniewska et al. Malaria Journal 2008 7:249   doi:10.1186/1475-2875-7-249