Table 1 Antimalarial management of pregnant women who fulfilled the World Health Organization severe malaria criteria [6] in two series: community-based and hospital-based cohorts

SMRU pregnancy cohort (community-based)

 a. Severe malaria with severe anaemia only

Severe anaemia: haematocrit < 20% or haemoglobin < 7 g/dL, with parasitaemia > 10,000 /μL

If no other WHO severe malaria criteria, oral treatment: quinine-based treatment (1989–2002) or artemisinin-based treatment (after 1994)^a

 b. Severe malaria with hyperparasitaemia only

Hyperparasitaemia > 10% infected red blood cells

If no other WHO severe malaria criteria, intravenous quinine-based treatment (1989–1993) or oral artemisinin-based treatment with a longer duration (after 1994)^a

A rescue intravenous treatment (1.2 mg/kg artesunate) was given if parasitaemia was higher than 95-percentile of the usual parasite clearance rate [19]

 c. Severe malaria with organ dysfunction

WHO severe criteria other than severe anaemia and hyperparasitaemia (Additional file 1)

Intravenous quinine (1989–1999), intramuscular artemether (1993–2000) or intravenous artesunate (after 2000)^a

MORU/OUCRU severe malaria cohorts (hospital-based)

Any WHO severe malaria criteria (Additional file 1)

Parenteral quinine, artesunate or artemether