Serum Ferritin: An Indicator of Disease Severity in Patients with Dengue Infection.

Background: Serum ferritin levels are usually raised in dengue virus infection. This study was conducted to see the association of raised serum ferritin levels on the day of admission with the disease severity. Methods: In this cross sectional observational study, patients admitted with the diagnosis of dengue fever were included. Serum ferritin levels of all the patients were measured by ELISA on the day of admission. Patients were divided into two groups on the basis of ferritin levels. Group A comprised those with normal ferritin level; those having raised level were included in group B. Patients were followed up during their hospital stay for development of severe dengue. Chi-square test was used as test of significance. Results: out of 104 patients 63.5% (n=66) patients were male and 36.5% (n=38) were female. Mean patient age was 30.7 ± 13.8 years. Mean duration of hospital stay was 3.7 ± 1.02 days. In 70% serum ferritin level was found >100 μg/dl, whereas 30% had ferritin level ≤ 100μg/dl. Out of 31 with normal ferritin level only 2 (6.45%) developed severe dengue, whereas 35 (47.94%) out of 73 developed severe dengue with ferritin level >100 μg/dl( p Value <0.005). Conclusion: Serum ferritin levels on the day of admission may serve as biomarker for an early prediction of disease severity in dengue virus infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]