Syed Qamar Zaman, Emran Roshan, Arshad Mahmood.
Clinical spectrum, grades of severity and outcome of children with dengue fever.
J Sharif Med Dent Coll Jan ;1(1):22-6.

Objective: To study the clinical spectrum, grades of severity and outcome of children with dengue fever. Methodology: It was a descriptive study conducted at paediatric department of PNS Shifa Hospital, Karachi from January 2007 to December 2012. Study population included 50 children of either gender aged 5 months to 13 years having dengue infection admitted in paediatric ward at PNS Shifa Naval Hospital Karachi. All children with dengue IgM antibodies positive by ELISA were included in the study. Dengue fever was classified according to WHO classification of dengue infections and they were managed according to the grades of severity. Results: A total of 50 patients with positive dengue serology were studied. Mean age of children was 7.4 years with interquartile range of 4.6 and majority were male (56%). Common clinical findings were fever (100%), tachycardia (70%), vomiting (48%), skin rashes (32%), headache (28%), abdominal pain (24%), hepatomegaly (24%), significant bleeding manifestations (20%), myalgia/arthralgia (18%), splenomegaly (16%) and jaundice (8%). Common laboratory findings were thrombocytopenia (42%), anemia (34%), leukopenia (26%), deranged prothrombin time/partial thromboplastin time (44%), increased packed cell volume (18%) and deranged ALT (8%). Statistically significant correlation was seen between age and gender (p value=0.001), age and bleeding (p value=0.010), fever and tachycardia (p value=0.006), general appearance and hospital stay (p value=0.001), bleeding and platelet transfusion (p value=0.004), hepatomegaly and fresh frozen plasma transfusion (p value=0.007) using Pearson Chi-square method. Conclusion: Fever, hemorrhagic manifestations, vomiting, headache, abdominal pain, hepatomegaly, thrombocytopenia and evidence of plasma leakage (hemoconcentration) should lead a clinician to suspect dengue infection. Keywords: Dengue. Bleeding manifestations. Skin rashes. Thrombocytopenia. Leucopenia.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com