Trial Participants and Follow-up
From June through October 2014, a total of 386
adolescent girls and women were screened, and
300 were enrolled and underwent randomization;
106 enrollees were assigned to the sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine
group, 94 to the threedose
dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine group, and
100 to the monthly dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine
group (Fig. 1). The baseline characteristics
were similar among the three treatment groups
(Table 1). The mean age at enrollment was 22
years, 69% of the participants were enrolled at
16 weeks of gestation or earlier, 37% were primigravid,
87% reported owning a long-lasting
insecticide–treated net, and 57% had malaria
parasites detected by LAMP. A total of 289 participants
(96.3%) were followed through delivery,
and 282 (94.0%) had placental tissue collected
for histopathological assessment (Fig. 1).
Eight participants gave birth to twins; four of
these twin births had dichorionic placentas.