Summary of morbidity results by time interval
sore throat, nausea, gastrointestinal symptoms, fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, cough
SORE THROAT
Table Summary of prevalence and percentage of days of monitoring when women had morbidity symptoms in Ghana and Malawi, by time interval during pregnancy and lactation.Ghana: All enrolled women received intervention or placebo and underwent a full follow‐up morbidity monitoring until 6 months postpartum. Malawi: All enrolled women received intervention and underwent a full follow‐up morbidity monitoring until childbirth; thereafter, only women (
In Malawi, cough, nausea and fever were the most common morbidity symptoms during the second trimester of pregnancy (35.3%–49.1% period prevalence; 6.3–12.3 mean percentage of days), while cough, fever and sore throat were the most common symptoms during the third trimester (35.1%–55.7% period prevalence; 5.3–11.2 mean percentage of days). During lactation, cough, nasal discharge and fever were the most common symptoms during the 0–3 months period (17.5%–31.4% period prevalence; 2.0–5.5 mean percentage of days), while cough, nasal discharge and sore throat were the most common during the 3–6 months period (17.8%–29.0% period prevalence; 2.5–4.8 mean percentage of days).In both countries, the main effect of time interval was statistically significant for all morbidity outcomes, except for the prevalence of abdominal pain, which was assessed during pregnancy (only) in Ghana but not during any time interval in Malawi. For most gastrointestinal symptoms (notably poor appetite, nausea and vomiting), the prevalence or mean percentage of days declined significantly from the second trimester of pregnancy through 0–3 months or 3–6 months of lactation. A similar pattern was shown for the mean percentage of days of monitoring when women had fever and respiratory symptoms (cough, sore throat, any nasal discharge and severe nasal discharge), but the prevalence of fever and respiratory symptoms increased or appeared to increase from the second to the third trimesters of pregnancy, before declining through 0–3 months or 3–6 months of lactation.