Biochemical characteristics of patients with imported malaria

This study aimed to investigate the clinical and biochemical profiles of patients with imported malaria infection between 1 January 2011 and 30 April 2022 and admitted to the Fourth People's Hospital of Nanning.

This cohort study enrolled 170 patients with conformed imported malaria infection. The clinical and biochemical profiles of these participants were analyzed with malaria parasite clearance, and signs and symptoms related to malaria disappearance were defined as the primary outcome. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to evaluate the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for cerebral malaria. The Cox model was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs for parasite clearance.

Adenosine deaminase and parasitemia were found to be independent risk factors for severe malaria in patients with imported malaria (OR = 1.0088, 95% CI: 1.0010-1.0167, p = 0.0272 and OR = 2.0700, 95% CI: 1.2584-3.4050, p = 0.0042, respectively). A 0.5-standard deviation (SD) increase of variation for urea (HR = 0.6714, 95% CI: 0.4911-0.9180), a 0.5-SD increase of variation for creatinine (HR = 0.4566, 95% CI: 0.2762-0.7548), a 0.25-SD increase of variation for albumin (HR = 0.4947, 95% CI: 0.3197-0.7653), a 0.25-SD increase of variation for hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (HR = 0.6129, 95% CI: 0.3995-0.9402), and a 1.0-SD increase of variation for ferritin (HR = 0.5887, 95% CI: 0.3799-0.9125) were associated with a higher risk for increased parasite clearance duration than a low-level change.

Aspartate aminotransferase, urea, creatinine, albumin, hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, and ferritin are useful biochemical indicators in routine clinical practice to evaluate prognosis for imported malaria.