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. 2015 Jul;45(3):164-7.
doi: 10.1177/0049475515577024. Epub 2015 Mar 29.

Altered mental status is an indicator of mortality and associated with both infectious and non-communicable disease in Lilongwe, Malawi

Bryna Harrington  1 , Charles Kyriakos Vorkas  2 , Cecilia Kanyama  3 , Jonathan Ngoma  4 , Irving Hoffman  5 , Mina C Hosseinipour  6
Affiliations

Altered mental status is an indicator of mortality and associated with both infectious and non-communicable disease in Lilongwe, Malawi

Bryna Harrington et al. Trop Doct. 2015 Jul.

Abstract

Little is known about diseases associated with altered mental status (AMS) in resource-limited settings. We studied adult medicine patients presenting with AMS in Lilongwe, Malawi and found that AMS and HIV infection were each significantly associated with mortality. It is therefore critical that evaluation and management in this patient population is improved.

Keywords: Altered mental status; HIV; infectious diseases; non-communicable diseases; resource-poor settings.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: none of the authors has any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest to report.

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