{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T12:08:06Z","timestamp":1790078886198,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789689600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Clin. Med.","JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Complicated malaria occurs in 15\u201340% of hospitalised imported cases, and European centres often define it more broadly than the WHO 2023 severe-malaria criteria, which, calibrated for semi-immune populations, may under-identify severe disease in non-immune travellers; Central and Eastern European data are limited. We examined the clinical spectrum, travel destinations, and admission correlates of complicated imported malaria in non-immune Polish travellers. Methods: This was a two-centre, 11-year retrospective cohort of 93 laboratory-confirmed episodes in 91 adults (December 2014\u2013October 2025). Complicated disease was a composite of organ-specific complications on admission. We derived the exploratory nine-item IMSC-NIT severity-capture criteria, with a pre-specified analysis restricted to the four items not overlapping the outcome (age, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, platelets). Results: Complicated disease affected 31\/93 episodes (33.3%), exceeding the 10\/93 that met the strictly assessable WHO criteria. Plasmodium falciparum predominated; 88.2% with documented status had used no chemoprophylaxis; age was the only independently associated variable (multiple-imputation odds ratio 1.07 per year, 95% CI 1.02\u20131.11). The restricted four-item score gave an area under the curve of 0.76 (95% CI 0.65\u20130.85; optimism-corrected 0.72). Conclusions: The WHO criteria alone may miss non-immune travellers with organ involvement at presentation. The IMSC-NIT is a hypothesis-generating severity-capture aid requiring external validation before clinical use.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm15187269","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T11:09:35Z","timestamp":1790075375000},"page":"7269","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Clinical Spectrum and Admission Correlates of Complicated Imported Malaria in Polish Travellers: An 11-Year Retrospective Analysis with Geographic Mapping of Travel Destinations"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Damian","family":"Pikor","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine and Metabolic Disorders, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznan, Poland"},{"name":"Department of Tropical and Parasitic Diseases, University Clinical Hospital, Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznan, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-1190-2348","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jadwiga","family":"Duda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Student Scientific Association, Department of Infectious Diseases, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 30-688 Krakow, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maximilian","family":"Ciechanowski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Student Scientific Society, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Rokietnicka 5, 60-806 Poznan, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9997-8417","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jacek","family":"Czepiel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 30-688 Krakow, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maciej","family":"Cymerys","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine and Metabolic Disorders, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznan, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9457-0543","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Krzysztof","family":"Macheta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Hospital in Krakow, Jakubowskiego 2, 30-688 Krakow, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2544-1836","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aleksandra","family":"Wese\u0142ucha-Birczy\u0144ska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 2, 30-387 Krakow, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Monika","family":"Boci\u0105ga-Jasik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 30-688 Krakow, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1327-4062","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ma\u0142gorzata","family":"Paul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine and Metabolic Disorders, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznan, Poland"},{"name":"Department of Tropical and Parasitic Diseases, University Clinical Hospital, Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznan, Poland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2024). 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