Clinical, biochemical and outcome profile of dengue fever in hospitalised children in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India.

Dengue fever is an important cause of acute febrile illness in the postmonsoon season in India. This study was done to record the incidence of dengue in admitted patients with acute febrile illness in a hospital setting. The study also intends to record the clinical, biochemical and outcome profile of paediatric dengue cases admitted in tertiary centres in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. It was a prospective case record analysis at a tertiary care research hospital in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The study recruited fifty-53 children (<18 years) with serology-proven diagnosis of dengue disease. Disease was confirmed by doing Ns1Ag, IgM antibody test by ELISA method. Six hundred children were screened and 53 met the inclusion criteria. The incidence of dengue disease in hospitalised acute febrile illness was 8.8%. There were thirty-one males. The mean age of presentation of the study population was 9.32 ± 5 years with a range of 0.25 - 17 years. Fever (94%), nausea and vomiting (59 %), abdominal pain (55%), persistent vomiting (49%), thrombocytopenia (<100,000 [66%]), and petechiae and purpura (43%) were the important clinical manifestations. Six required intensive care monitoring. There was only one death. Dengue fever is an important cause of acute febrile illness in children. Case fatality rate can be minimised with proper World Health Organisation classification and protocol-based management of cases.