An Observational Study on Clinical and Liver Profile in Dengue Cases at a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India

Abstract

Introduction: Dengue fever, the most common arthropod-borne viral illness in humans, is caused by the dengue virus, which is one of the world's most dangerous tropical infectious diseases. Dengue fever epidemics have been reported in India on various occasions. Liver involvement is known to occur in children with dengue fever. Liver dysfunction ranges from mild injury with elevated transaminase activity to severe injury with liver cell failure. Liver dysfunction varies in severity depending on the type of clinical presentation of dengue fever, but it is more common in children with severe dengue fever. Hence the following study was conducted to find out the range of liver dysfunction in children with dengue fever. Material and Methods: The study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital over a period of one year in a total of 100 patients who are serologically positive for dengue fever. Results: Patients were classified as dengue fever (DF)-48%, and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)-52%. Liver function tests AST, ALT and ALP, bilirubin and albumin were deranged in children with dengue hemorrhagic fever. The mean total bilirubin, serum albumin, AST, ALT, ALP, PT, aPTT, INR, BT, CTwere 1.7 mg/dl, 2.9 mg/dl, 382 U/L, 240 U/L, 254.4 U/L, 39.8s, 56.8s, 1.5, 4.6 minutes and 2.5 minutes respectively. Derangement of liver function tests was significant among DHF as compared to DF. Conclusion: Liver dysfunction was very common in all forms of dengue fever, significantly deranged among DHF. AST levels raising significantly when compared to ALT.