PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases (Apr 2014)
Challenges in dengue fever in the elderly: atypical presentation and risk of severe dengue and hospital-acquired infection [corrected].
Abstract
Background/methodsTo better understand dengue fever in the elderly, we compared clinical features, World Health Organization (WHO) dengue classification and outcomes between adult (ResultsOf the 6989 cases, 295 (4.4%) were elderly. PCR was positive in 29%. The elderly suffered more severe disease with more dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) (29.2% vs. 21.4%) and severe dengue (SD) (20.3% vs. 14.6%) (pConclusionElderly dengue patients present atypically and are at higher risk of DHF, SD and HAI. Aside from dengue severity, age, co-morbidity and HAI were associated with longer hospital stay.