Table 2. Microvascular reactivity, endothelial function and biopterin metabolite values among patient groups.

	Healthy Controls	P value†	Moderately-severe malaria	P value††	Severe Sepsis	P value†††	Severe Malaria
Number	20		17		5		12
Recovery StO2%second* (StO2recov) Median (IQR) *	3.5 (3.0–3.7)	0.04	3.2 (2.75–3.85)	0.1	3.1 (2.6–4.0)	0.05	2.8 (1.8–3.4)
Reactive Hyperemia Peripheral Arterial Tonometry*	1.76 (1.45–2.15)	0.06	1.77 (1.6–2.2)	0.04	1.56 (1.36–1.68)	0.2	1.38 (1.27–1.87)
Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) *	0.34 (0.27–0.46)	0.006	0.27 (0.19–0.41)	0.08	0.54 (0.48–0.94)	0.008	0.16 (0.04–0.30)
7, 8 dihydrobiopterin (BH2) *	0.52 (0.43–0.69)	0.002	0.67 (0.52–0.76)	0.03	0.39 (0.38–0.88)	0.05	0.91 (0.62–1.35)
B0 Biopterin*	0.01 (0–0.02)	0.02	0.02 (0.01–0.03)	0.08	0.03 (0.02–0.07)	0.08	0.06 (0.01–0.19)
Urine Total Biopterins (BH4 + BH2 + B0)	0.94 (0.75–1.18)	0.09	0.94 (0.76–1.17)	0.2	1.42 (1.35–1.45)	0.6	1.14 (0.89–1.84)
BH4/BH2 ratio*	0.67 (0.43–1.08)	0.001	0.45 (0.27–0.62)	0.01	1.03 (0.54–2.38)	0.003	0.18 (0.04–0.32)
Dihydroneopterin (NH2) *	1.73 (0.95–3.20)	0.001	6.9 (4.90–8.00)	0.6	3.02 (2.57–4.80)	0.1	6.2 (4.35–9.78)
Neopterin (N0) *	0.45 (0.21–0.72)	<0.0001	1.86 (1.29–2.84)	0.03	0.85 (0.77–1.47)	0.02	4.16 (2.04–5.11)
Total Neopterin (NH2 + N0) *	2.19 (1.16–3.90)	<0.0001	8.65 (6.40–10.67)	0.2	3.87 (3.3–6.24)	0.03	10.78 (6.55–13.60)
NH2/N0 Ratio	4.44 (2.52–8)	0.002	3.57 (2.32–5.38)	0.03	3.23 (2.9–3.58)	0.17	1.98 (0.54–5.48)
Phenylalanine (μmol/L) *	54 (51–58)	0.03	101 (84–110)	0.09	114 (112–332)	0.2	176 (85–250)

Median and IQR unless otherwise stated. All pterin measurements are μmol/mmol creatinine

*p<0.05 (for ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis or χ² test comparing severe malaria, moderately-severe malaria, severe sepsis and healthy controls)

†Pairwise comparisons between each group and severe malaria using Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test: † control vs severe malaria;

†† moderately severe malaria vs severe malaria;

††† severe sepsis vs severe malaria.