Comparison of Malaria Assessment Scales in Predicting the Outcomes of Malarial Patient

Background: Malaria is a dreadful disease that is caused by Plasmodium parasites Malaria if not treated promptly and appropriately, can rapidly lead to complications that eventually result in death. This study was therefore designed to compare Sequential organ failure assessment score (SOFA ) and Malaria severity score(MSS) in predicting the outcome of malaria patients attending a tertiary care centre. Methods: Total 60 patients suffering from malaria which were admitted in ICU and ward having more than one organ involvement were selected. SOFA and MSS were measured on three days (0, 2, 7 days) to find out whether subsequent day scores can predict mortality/morbidity better or not. Death or recovery are the two outcomes, which were assessed for prediction analysis. Results: Among the total patients enrolled, recovery occurred in 47 patients & 13 patients died .The mean age of patients who survived was 39.9±15.9 years & those who died was 42.2±16.7 years . An ROC curve was constructed to determine the predictive value and an area under curve of 0.786 ± SE of 0.076, 0.935 ± SE was calculated for MSS & SOFA scores respectively . Conclusion: In this study outcome of malaria patients was independent of the age and sex. SOFA score proved to be the score with excellent prediction ability when compared with MSS in predicting outcome. Scoring system can be improved by adding co-morbidity status and parasite count for the better prognosis of patients . Key words: Malaria, Malaria Severity Score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment.