Clinical Profile of Patients with Dengue: A One-year Retrospective Study at a Tertiary Care Center

Abstract

Introduction: Dengue is an acute viral illness caused by the Flaviviridae RNA virus and spread by the Aedes mosquito. Being a tropical illness, knowledge of its demographic and clinical profiles and seasonal incidence can aid in the management and control of the disease. Additionally, it is important to know the relationship between thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, transaminitis, and the severity of dengue and its mortality and morbidity. It is aimed to assess the clinical profile of patients with dengue at a tertiary care center. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital located in South India. The medical records of patients admitted between January 2022 to December 2022 were reviewed. A total of 582 patients were screened, and 539 patients with a definite diagnosis of dengue were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. We obtain data on the demographic and clinical profile of dengue, seasonal variation in the incidence of dengue, degree of thrombocytopenia, transaminitis, albumin/globulin (A/G) ratio and number of days in hospital. All the analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel 2021. The continuous variables are presented as means, standard deviations, and minimum and maximum values. The categorical variables are presented as frequencies and percentages. Results: The present study included 539 participants with a mean age of 30.23±13.81 years. Most participants (80.52%) suffered from dengue without warning signs. The incidence of dengue was higher during winter (60.11%) than during the other seasons. Most participants suffering from dengue without warning signs had severe thrombocytopenia (49.35%), leukopenia (46.20%) and transaminitis severity of Grade 1 (35.44%) based on serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase levels and Grade 0 (39.89%) based on serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase levels. Furthermore, most of these patients had a normal A/G ratio (63.64%) and moderate morbidity (69.76%). Conclusion: Dengue without warning signs was the most common type of dengue seen. These participants had varying degrees of thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and transaminitis, moderate morbidity, and low mortality. The present study is the first of its kind to associate the type of dengue and different hematological conditions with the morbidity and mortality of patients with dengue which helps in early identification of types of dengue and effective management.

Keywords

• dengue
• thrombocytopenia
• leukopenia
• morbidity
• mortality