ML ratio positively correlates with risk of clinical malaria.

<p>Kaplan-Meier plots of the relationship between ML ratio and time to first episode of clinical malaria during follow-up is shown. (A) and (B) represent results using ML ratios measured in the May 2008 baseline survey and consider a follow-up period ending on 31^st December 2011. However, most parasite positive children had experienced their first clinical malaria episode within a year since sampling in the May 2008 baseline survey and so the plots show data for the first 12 months of follow-up. (C) and (D) represent results based on ML ratios measured at each of five surveys (May 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011) and consider time to the first episode within the respective one year inter-survey periods as the primary endpoint. The hazard ratios (HR) from unadjusted Cox regression models using ML ratio as the only explanatory variable are shown. The cumulative proportion of children with malaria in relation to their ML ratio, stratified into three arbitrary groups, is shown. “High ML ratio” and “Low ML ratio” represent children whose ML ratio falls in the top and bottom 25^th percentile of the sampled population, respectively, whilst “Medium ML ratio” represents all other children.