Table 1 Baseline characteristics of study participants by ecological zones
Characteristics | Total | Ecological zone | Â | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Forest (FZ) | Coastal (CSZ) | p value | ||
Prevalence of malaria n/N (%) | ||||
 2013 | 273/1037 (26.3) | 127/478 (26.6) | 146/559 (26.1) | 0.869 |
 2014 | 161/781 (20.6) | 62/382 (16.2) | 99/399 (24.8) | 0.003 |
 2015 | 261/935 (27.9) | 142/452 (31.42) | 119/483 (24.6) | 0.021 |
 2016 | 241/1027 (23.5) | 127/525 (24.2) | 114/502 (22.47) | 0.576 |
 2017 | 300/1112 (27.0) | 178/557 (32.0) | 122/555 (22.0) | < 0.001 |
 Total | 1236/4892 (25.3) | 636/2394 (26.6) | 600/2498 (24.0) | 0.040 |
Mean age in years (SD) | 10.3 (2.4) | 10.3 (2.3) | 10.3 (2.5) | 0.5258 |
Age group n (%) in years | Â | Â | Â | 0.016 |
 Aged 6 to 8 years | 1247 (25.5) | 602 (25.2) | 645 (25.9) |  |
 Aged 9 to 11 years | 1862 (38.1) | 959 (40.1) | 903 (36.2) |  |
 Aged 12 to 14 years | 1779 (36.4) | 833 (34.8) | 946 (37.9) |  |
Gender n (%) | Â | Â | Â | 0.148 |
 Female | 2589 (52.9) | 1292 (53.9) | 1296 (51.9) |  |
 Male | 2303 (47.1) | 1103 (46.1) | 1202 (48.1) |  |
Anaemia n/N (%) |  |  |  | < 0.001 |
 Normal | 4160/4831 (86.1) | 2139/2390 (89.5) | 2021/2441 (82.8) |  |
 Anaemic | 671/4831 (13.9) | 251/2390 (10.5) | 420/2441 (17.2) |  |
Stunted growth |  |  |  | < 0.001 |
 Normal | 4349 (88.9) | 2213 (92.4) | 2136 (85.5) |  |
 Stunted | 545 (11.1) | 182 (7.6) | 363 (14.5) |  |
Geometric mean parasitaemia/μL | 289.4 | 289.9 | 295.0 | 0.9331 |
Parasitaemia range | (13.79, 95,400) | (13.8, 65,910.5) | (8.0, 95,400) | Â |