DEMOGRAPHIC AND CLINICAL CORRELATES OF PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH DENGUE FEVER: A MULTI-CENTER CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objective: To evaluate the frequency of the dengue fever at a tertiary care hospital in Hyderabad, Sindh, and to analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients diagnosed with the fever. Methodology: A cross-sectional observational study conducted at Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad, Pakistan and Dow University Hospital, Karachi (OJHA Campus), from September to November, for duration of 3 months. The patients with positive antibodies against dengue fever, presenting with symptoms consistent with dengue fever were included in the study. All demographic and clinical information were recorded in a predefined pro forma. SPSS v.24 was used to enter and analyze the data. Results: A total of 300 dengue patients were enrolled in the study with a mean age of 23.6 ± 10.35 years. There were 203 (67.6%) men and 97 (32.4%) women. One-third of the patients belonged to the rural areas. Almost 50% the patients, who were employed, had an outdoor job involving field work or a lot of travelling. The majority of the patients presented with only the constitutional symptoms i.e. fever, chills, headache, and myalgia. About one-half of the patients also had the characteristic skin rash. The total frequency of patients who presented with thrombocytopenia was 203/300, while about one-fourth patients presented with lymphocytosis and about 40% patients had leukopenia. Conclusion: The present study indicates that dengue fever is still a major issue in areas infested with Aedes mosquitoes and cause significant burden to the patient and the overall health care. Proper public health measures to prevent the spread of dengue virus are needed. Keywords: Aedes mosquito; dengue fever; demographics; endemic; flaviviradae; infectio