Table 1 Characteristics of malaria patients at initial presentation

Demographics

Age, years

44 (23-70)

41 (11-69)

38 (8-62)

n.s.

Male, female, n (%)

15 (60), 10 (40)

92 (79), 24 (21)

44 (70), 19 (30)

n.s.

Duration of complaints, n (%)

0.0905

   Less than 1 week

16 (64)

83 (72)

31 (49)

   1-2 weeks

8 (32)

20 (17)

15 (24)

   3-4 weeks

0 (0)

8 (7)

5 (8)

   More than 4 weeks

0 (0)

1 (1)

3 (5)

Vital signs on admission

Body temperature, °C

38.4 (35.7-40.6)

38.6 (35.7-41.0)

38.3 (36.0-41.2)

n.s.

Pulse rate, beats per minute

108 (75-140) ^{A < 0,001; B < 0,01}

90 (68-130)

90 (58-138)

0.0005

Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg

118 (80-150)

120 (88-185)

120 (95-196)

n.s.

Laboratory data on admission

Parasite density (parasites/μL)

284,005 (39,600-1,380,600)

22,657 (2-156,600)

n.a.

< 0.0001

C-reactive protein, mg/L

186 (71-407) ^{A < 0,001; B < 0,001}

95 (7-310)

83 (14-348)

< 0.0001

Haemoglobin, mmol/L

7.8 (2.5-10.2) ^{A < 0,05}

8.5 (5.3-11.1)

8.3 (5.6-10.7)

0.0281

Haematocrit, L/L

0.37 (0.12-0.50) ^{A < 0,05}

0.41 (0.24-0.52)

0.39 (0.26-0.53)

0.0067

Leucocyte count, × 10⁹/L

6.9 (2.5-18.5) ^{A < 0,05}

5.0 (2.2-12.6)

5.3 (1.9-11.0)

0.0361

Thrombocytes, × 10⁹/L

36 (11-164) ^{A < 0,001; B < 0,001}

93 (16-385)

95 (10-292)

0.0004

Serum glucose, mmol/L

6.8 (4.1-8.8)

6.8 (4.4-26.0)

6.4 (4.2-22.1)

n.s.

Serum sodium, mmol/L

131 (124-139) ^{A < 0.05;B < 0,01}

134 (122-141) ^{C < 0,05}

136 (127-141)

< 0.0001

Serum creatinine, μmol/L

110 (70-1081) ^{B < 0,001}

97 (51-208) ^{C < 0,05}

91 (46-126)

0.0010

Serum urea, mmol/L

7.6 (3.8-55.8) ^{A < 0,01; B < 0,01}

5.2 (2.2-18.7)

5.1 (2.7-10.9)

0.0018

Plasma lactate, mmol/L

2,3 (1,0-5,8) ^{A < 0,001; B < 0,05}

1,4 (0,5-5,5)

1.7 (0.7-4.0)

0.0014

Procalcitonin, ng/mL

1.9 (0.9-42.3) ^{A < 0.01}

0.6 (0.0-11.2)

1.6 (0.0-42.6)

0.0057

Copeptin, pmol/L

22.9 (5.1-91.5) ^{B < 0,05}

13.9 (1.6-67.8)

12.0 (1.9-82.9)

0.0249

Duration hospitalisation, days

7 (3-13) ^{A < 0,001; B < 0,001}

5 (0-10) ^{C < 0,001}

2 (0-9)

< 0.0001