Interleukin (IL)-13 promoter polymorphisms (-7402 T/G and -4729G/A) condition susceptibility to pediatric severe malarial anemia but not circulating IL-13 levels

Table 1 Clinical, demographic and laboratory characteristics of the study participants

Characteristics	non-SMA (Hb ≥ 6.0 g/dL)	SMA (Hb < 6.0 g/dL)	P value
No. of participants (n = 387)	222	165
Gender, n (%)
Male	115 (51.8)	84 (50.9)	0.862^a
Female	107 (48.2)	81 (49.1)	0.862^a
Age, months	11.0 (10.0)	8.0 (8.0)	<0.001 ^b
IL-13 concentration (pg/mL)	31.6(26.5)	35.4(38.07)	0.415^b
Parasites/μL	29960.1(40957.8)	20639.1(42359.6)	0.530^b
Hematological Parameters
Hemoglobin, g/dL	8.0 (3.0)	4.9 (1.0)	<0.001 ^b
Hematocrit,%	24.8 (7.3)	15.8 (5.0)	<0.001 ^b
RBCs, × 10¹²/μL	3.7 (1.2)	2.2 (0.9)	<0.001 ^b
RDW,%	17.5 (1.7)	17.9 (1.2)	<0.001 ^b
MCHC, g/L	32.3 (2.0)	31.3 (2.7)	<0.001 ^b

Data is presented as the median (interquartile range) unless stated otherwise. A total of 387 parasitemic children were categorized as either SMA (n = 165) or non-SMA (n = 222) based on age- and geographically-matched Hb concentrations in children in western Kenya (Hb < 6.0 g/dL, with any density parasitemia) [35]. ^aStatistical significance determined by Chi-square (χ²) tests. ^bStatistical significance determined by Mann–Whitney U test. Abbreviations: RBCs - Red blood cells; RDW - Red cell distribution width; MCHC - Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration.

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