Alteration of haematological parameters among patients with dengue infection.

Background: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the haematological parameters as screening markers for differentiating patients with dengue fever, and non-dengue fever. Methods: This study was a retrospective case-control study in Tak Province, Thailand. All data of patients suspected with dengue infection during January 2013 and December 2015 were retrieved anonymously from computerized medical records included demographic data, medical history, and laboratory results. For statistical analysis, a normal distribution of continuous data was determined using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Continuous variables were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. Continuous variables were categorized following laboratory or usual cut-off values. Categorical variables were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test or chi-square test. All analysis was performed by SPSS v.11.5 Chicago: SPSS Inc. Results: The result showed that among 376 suspected patients with dengue infection, WBCs, neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophil’s, MCV, and MCH were significantly lower in patients with DF as compared to patients with non-dengue (p value<0.05). RBCs count were significantly higher in patients with dengue infection (4.99 × 106 /µL vs. 4.91 × 106 /µL; p value=0.039). Platelets count were significantly lower in the patient with dengue infection compared to patients with non-dengue infection (75,000 × 103 /µL vs. 86,000 × 103 /µL; p value=0.042). Conclusion: Alteration of haematological parameters can combine with other clinical and laboratory markers which will help physicians to early diagnosis of dengue fever on the first day of admission to help closely monitoring patients with dengue and prevent developing dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF).