Cumulative Malaria Infections and Telomere Length in Kenyan Children

218 children from a moderate malaria transmission area and 90 age-matched controls from a non-endemic area were studied. Telomere length was measured via qPCR in cross-sectional blood samples from 2007, 2010, and 2013, correlated with cumulative malaria episodes tracked by active weekly surveillance. The dataset, authored by Aurelie Miglar and licensed CC-BY-4.0, was last updated on 2026-05-13.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relationship between cumulative malaria exposure and cellular aging based on telomere length measurements.
• Model the association between asymptomatic parasitaemia and telomere length change based on the reported 0.22 kb effect.
• Investigate age-related telomere decline independent of malaria exposure based on the longitudinal cohort design.
• Compare telomere dynamics between populations with differing malaria transmission intensities based on the Junju and Ngerenya cohorts.

Strengths

• Data includes 308 total participants (218 from Junju, 90 from Ngerenya).
• Longitudinal design with samples collected across three time points (2007, 2010, 2013).
• Active weekly surveillance for febrile malaria provides detailed infection episode tracking.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small in size (824.4 KB), indicating limited scope.

Provenance

Source

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Collection Method

Telomere length was quantified by qPCR from blood samples; malaria episodes were tracked via active weekly surveillance.

Time Range

Samples collected in 2007, 2010, and 2013.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-13 05:53:49; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Children from Junju (moderate malaria transmission) and Ngerenya (non-endemic), Kenya.