Clinical manifestations and predictors of severe malaria in Indian children.

Objective: Although the greatest morbidity and mortality attributable to malaria occurs among children in Africa, up to one third of the world's malaria burden is borne by non-African countries, where levels of endemicity are lower. Because there are few published criteria for managing life-threatening malaria in children in these countries, we conducted a study of major syndromes and predictors of death among critically ill Indian children to identify factors that could be used to improve the approach to their treatment.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted at the pediatric ward of SCB Medical College in eastern India (Orissa).