Cardiac involvement in patients of dengue fever in reference to ECG and Echocardiography – A tertiary care center study

Abstract

Introduction: Dengue rarely affects the heart but clinical symptoms of cardiac involvement mayrange greatly from silent illness to severe myocarditis resulting in death. Clinical features areasymptomatic and most are transient among patients with DF/DHF. Material and methods: It wasan observational study conducted at the Department of General Medicine, Peoples College of MedicalSciences and Research Centre, Bhopal. The total duration of the study was One and a half yearsfrom Dec 2018 to May 2020. All dengue patients presenting to People’s Hospital during one and halfyears from which data was collected using as per given proforma. Results: In the present studygroup of 58 patients, it was found that 49 patients (84.5%) have not shown any cardiacabnormalities and 9 patients have abnormal values (15.5%) but are not significant. It is also foundthat the incidence of cardiac manifestations was more common in DHF and dengue shock syndromewhich was 15.5% and 3.4%, respectively. Conclusion: Clinical manifestations of cardiacinvolvement can vary widely from silent disease to severe myocarditis resulting in death. Rhythmabnormalities, hypotension, arrhythmias, myocarditis, myocardial depression with symptoms ofheart failure and shock, and pericarditis have been reported. Involvement of multiple organs, as wellas the presence of metabolic derangement, can further confuse the picture.