Abstract

Dengue fever is one of commonest viral hemorrhagic fevers, clinical spectrum of dengue infection is variable from mild fever to severe forms of dengue such as dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. Present study was aimed to study serum ferritin level as predictor of severity of dengue fever at a tertiary hospital. Material and Methods: Present study was Hospital based descriptive cross sectional study, conducted in patients of age above 18 years, diagnosed case of Dengue, willing to participate in present study. Results: In present study, mean age of the patients was 35.5 ± 14.8 years. Majority of the patients (58 %) were males, while 42 % patients were females with male-female ratio of 1.4:1. In study, three-fifth of the patients (60%) suffering from dengue without warning signs, followed by 32 % patients who has dengue with warning signs, while 8 % patients has severe dengue. Mean levels of serum ferritin was 1363.1 ± 1505.3 ng/ml with minimum levels of 17 ng/ml and maximum levels of 6129 ng/ml. More than three-fourth of the patients (78%) had serum ferritin levels above normal level (>350 ng/ml), while 20% patients had normal range ferritin level (30 –350 ng/ml) and 2 % patients had ferritin level below normal level (<30 ng/ml). Serum ferritin level has significantly positive correlation with serum creatinine (r= -0.353), SGOT (r= 0.554; p<0.05) and SGPT level (r =0.610; p<0.05), while significantly negative correlation with platelet count (r= -0.344; p<0.05). However, serum ferritin has non-significant correlation with age of patients, durations of hospitalization, and hematocrit level (p>0.05). Conclusion: However, statistically significant relationship of SGOT and SGPT levels with severity of dengue. Serum ferritin level has significantly positive correlation with serum creatinine, SGOT and SGPT level, while significantly negative correlation with platelet count.

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