Caracterización clínico-epidemiológica de pacientes con dengue en una unidad de cuidados intensivos

Introduction: Dengue is an infectious febrile disease of systemic viral etiology. It has a variable clinical presentation and an unpredictable, self-limited and temporarily disabling course. Objective: To describe clinically-epidemiologically dengue patients admitted to an intensive care unit. Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out with patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Dr. Ambrosio Grillo Portuondo Hospital in Santiago de Cuba, from January to July 2020. The universe and sample consisted of 117 cases with presumptive diagnosis of dengue, confirmed by IgM on the sixth day of the disease evolution. Clinical and epidemiological variables were studied such as age, sex, and skin color, cause for admission of the patient, stay in the ICU, individual pathological history, clinical alarm signs, platelet count, hematocrit and complications. As summary measure, the percentage and Chi2 test of independence were used. The significance level a = 0.05 was selected, and for qualitative the mean and standard deviation. Results: The patients whose age was between 35-49 years old (45.4%) predominated, followed by the group of 50-64 years (37.6%). 66.7% of the cases had platelet penia; and 14.5% had bleeding. The most recurrent clinical warning signs were abdominal pain and bleeding. Thrombocytopenia was observed in the age groups of 35-49 years and 50-64 years. 50.4% of the patients had no previous associated chronic pathologies. Conclusions: Among the patients, those older than 30 years and those female predominated. Bleeding and thrombocytopenia were the most observed causes for admission. The hematocrit and platelet count are confirmed as indispensable indicators in the management of the disease.