• Wesley Boland, Dibyadyuti Datta, Ruth Namazzi, Caitlin Bond, Andrea L Conroy, Kagan A Mellencamp, Robert O Opoka, Chandy C John, and Michael Lintner Rivera.
• Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Disease and Global Health, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
• Pediatr Crit Care Me. 2024 Sep 26.

ObjectivesContinuous, noninvasive tools to monitor peripheral perfusion, such as perfusion index (PI), can detect hemodynamic abnormalities and assist in the management of critically ill children hospitalized with severe malaria. In this study of hospitalized children with severe malaria, we aimed to assess whether PI correlates with clinical markers of perfusion and to determine whether combining PI with these clinical measures improves identification of children with greater odds of mortality.DesignPost hoc analysis of a prospective, multicenter, cohort study conducted between 2014 and 2017.SettingTwo referral hospitals in Central and Eastern Uganda.PatientsSix hundred children younger than 5 years old with severe malaria and 120 asymptomatic community children.InterventionsNone.Measurements And Main ResultsPI was measured at 6-hour intervals for the first 24 hours of hospitalization. We compared PI to standard clinical perfusion measures such as capillary refill time, presence of cold peripheral limbs, or temperature gradient. Admission PI was highly correlated with clinical measures of perfusion. Admission PI was lower in children with severe malaria compared with asymptomatic community children; and, among the children with severe malaria, PI was lower in those with clinical features of poor perfusion or complications of severe malaria, such as shock and hyperlactatemia (all p < 0.02). Among children with severe malaria, lower admission PI was associated with greater odds of mortality after adjustment for age, sex, and severe malaria criteria (adjusted odds ratio, 2.4 for each log decrease in PI [95% CI, 1.0-5.9]; p = 0.045). Diagnostically, the presence of two consecutive low PI measures (< 1%) predicted mortality, with a sensitivity of 50% and a specificity of 76%.ConclusionsIn severe malaria, PI correlates with clinical complications (including shock and elevated serum lactate) and may be useful as an objective, continuous explanatory variable associated with greater odds of later in-hospital mortality.Copyright © 2024 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies.

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