The epidemiology of patients with severe malaria who died at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, 1991-2004

This study is a retrospective case series of the causes of death among patients with severe malaria. Data from the medical records of patients who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand between 1991 and 2004 were analyzed. The overall hospital mortality rate was 0.2% and the ICU mortality rate was 1.8% for patients with malaria. Thirty-five patients died of malaria in the ICU during the study period, while a total of 1,866 patients were treated for malaria in the ICU during the study period. The most common complication of malaria was cerebral malaria (77.1%). The socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of those who died are examined here, as well as the cost of their treatment.