• Patrick Gérardin, Christophe Rogier, Amadou S Ka, Philippe Jouvencel, Bakary Diatta, and Patrick Imbert.
• Department of Paediatrics, Hôpital Principal, Dakar, Senegal. p.gerardin@ch-sudreunion.fr <p.gerardin@ch-sudreunion.fr>
• Malaria J. 2007 Jan 1;6:51.

BackgroundLittle is known about children undergoing critical care for malaria. The purpose of this survey was to evaluate the outcome in African children requiring endotracheal intubation for life-threatening malaria.MethodsAll children with a primary diagnosis of severe malaria (2000 WHO definition) requiring endotracheal intubation, hospitalised over a five-year period, within a tertiary-care hospital in Dakar, Senegal, were enrolled in a retrospective cohort study.Results83 consecutive patients were included (median PRISM h24 score: 14; IQR: 10-19, multiple organ dysfunctions: 91.5%). The median duration of ventilation was 36 hrs (IQR: 4-72). Indications for intubation were deep coma (Glasgow score ConclusionIn this study, the outcome of children requiring intubation for malaria depends more on clinical presentation and progression towards organ failures than on critical care complications per se. In sub-Saharan Africa, mechanical ventilation for life-threatening childhood malaria is feasible, but seems unlikely to dramatically improve the prognosis.

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