Plasmodium falciparum EPCR-binding PfEMP1 expression increases with malaria disease severity and is elevated in retinopathy negative cerebral malaria

Table 1 Study population characteristics

	Cerebral malaria (CM) (n = 98)	Severe malarial anemia (SMA) (n = 47)	Asymptomatic P. falciparum parasitemia (AP) (n = 14)	P ^a
Age (months), median (IQR)	41.5 (30.9–54.6)	33.4 (24.9–52.4)	48.5 (31.0–71.0)	0.14
Sex (male), n (%)	59 (60.2)	35 (74.5)	7 (50.0)	0.14
Weight-for-age z-score, mean (SD)	–1.11 (1.49) n = 97	–1.98 (1.39)	–0.31 (1.17)	0.0001^b
Hemoglobin (g/dL), mean (SD)	7.07 (2.30)	3.81 (0.74)	11.2 (2.15)	<0.0001^c
Parasite density (/μL), median (IQR)	67,010 (18,030–347,010) n = 96	43,880 (11,940–156,040) n = 46	2170 (520–11,880)	<0.0001^d
Parasite load (PfHRP-2, ng/mL), median (IQR)	2648 (883–5150)	862 (288–2033) n = 46	88.8 (4.80–158) n = 13	<0.0001^c
Sequestered biomass (x10^8), median (IQR)^e	17,928 (5323–39,891) n = 96	6249 (1303–15,839) n = 45	469 (0–1309) n = 13	<0.0001^c

^aAnalysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey post hoc test adjustment for multiple comparisons with log10 transformed values for variables with no normal distribution. Chi-squared test was used for sex, with P < 0.017 considered significant to control for multiple comparisons.
^bIn post hoc testing, SMA differed from CM and AP
^cIn post hoc testing, all groups differed from each other
^dIn post hoc testing, CM and SMA differed from AP
^eSee Methods section for calculation of sequestered parasite biomass
IQR interquartile range, SD standard deviation