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Table 1 Characteristics of study participants by cohort

From: Estimating the burden of iron deficiency among African children

Characteristic

Kenya

n = 1484

Uganda

n = 1374

Burkina Faso

n = 348

South Africa

n = 894

The Gambia

n = 753

Pooled

n = 4853

Age in years, n/total (%)

 < 1

321/1484 (21.6)

26/1374 (1.9)

21/348 (6.0)

475/894 (53.1)

0/753 (0.0)

843/4853 (17.4)

 1–< 2

597/1484 (40.2)

459/1374 (33.4)

185/348 (53.2)

418/894 (46.8)

16/753 (2.1)

1675/4853 (34.5)

 2–< 3

170/1484 (11.5)

622/1374 (45.3)

142/348 (40.8)

1/894 (0.1)

188/753 (25.0)

1123/4853 (23.1)

 3–< 4

159/1484 (10.7)

176/1374 (12.8)

0

0

201/753 (26.7)

536/4853 (11.0)

 4–8

237/1484 (16.0)

91/1374 (6.6)

0

0

348/753 (46.2)

676/4853 (13.9)

Age in years, median (IQR)

1.7 (1.1, 3.1)

2.0 (2.0, 3.0)

1.9 (1.6, 2.2)

1.0 (1.0, 1.0)

3.8 (2.9, 4.9)

2.0 (1.0, 3.0)

Gender: females, n/total (%)

726/1484 (48.9)

678/1374 (49.3)

173/348 (49.7)

449/894 (50.2)

331/753 (46.8)

2378/4853 (49.0)

Underweight*, n/total (%)

114/429 (26.6)

113/1368 (8.3)

60/327 (18.4)

n/a

150/593 (25.3)

437/2717 (16.1)

Inflammation†, n/total (%)

392/1437 (27.3)

316/1337 (23.6)

112/330 (33.9)

157/894 (17.6)

112/753 (14.9)

1089/4751 (22.9)

Malaria‡, n/total (%)

262/1199 (21.9)

92/1353 (6.8)

66/321 (20.6)

n/a

84/751 (11.2)

504/4518 (11.2)

Parasite density, median (IQR)

2295 (604, 6619)

122 (36, 350)

3714 (887, 18,103)

n/a

n/a

1386 (224, 5523)

  1. n/a not available, IQR interquartile range
  2. *Underweight was defined as weight-for-age z-score < − 2. Not measured in the South African cohort
  3. †Inflammation was defined as C-reactive protein > 5 mg/L or α1-antichymotrypsin > 0.6 g/dL (in The Gambia)
  4. ‡Malaria was defined as P. falciparum parasitemia and parasite density as parasites/μL. Children in South Africa were not exposed to malaria and parasite density data was not available for The Gambia. Pooled parasite density did not include South African or Gambian data