Abstract

Background: Dengue fever is known to have an unpredictable course and outcome. Because of this uncertainty, diagnostic tools for early detection of severe dengue should be developed. Studies on the correlation of degrees of neutropenia and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) with dengue severity on the pediatric population are scarce, and its clinical significance is still uncertain.

Objective: To determine the correlation of Absolute Neutrophil Counts (ANC) and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) during the acute phase of dengue infection with the development of severe dengue among children admitted at Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital (GCGMH).

Results: Out of 912 eligible patients, 584 subjects were enrolled. Abnormal ANC was noted in 41.4% of subjects where, 21.6% had mild neutropenia, 17.8% had moderate neutropenia and 2.1% had severe neutropenia. Almost 44% of subjects had high NLR. There was no significant association noted between ANC and dengue severity. However, a trend towards increasing risk for severe dengue was noted with increasing severity of neutropenia. No significant association was also noted between NLR and dengue severity.

Conclusions: There is no significant correlation between neutropenia during the febrile phase of dengue infection with the development of severe dengue in pediatric patients. However, a trend towards increasing risk for developing severe dengue as the severity of neutropenia increases was noted. High NLR during the febrile stage of dengue, likewise, is not significantly associated with progression to severe disease.

Methodology: This is a retrospective descriptive correlational study. The charts of children aged 0-18 years with laboratory-confirmed dengue who were admitted to GCMGH from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2020 were reviewed. Data collection was done using simple random sampling. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, median and standard deviation. Chi-square test was used to determine the association of ANC and NLR with dengue severity.

Keywords: Absolute Neutrophil; Counts; Lymphocyte Ratio; Dengue Severity; Children

References

Citation

Citation: Kristine M Prayon and Anabella S Oncog. “Absolute Neutrophil Counts and Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio as Early Predictive markers of Dengue Severity among Children admitted in Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital: A 5-Year Retrospective Study”. Acta Scientific Paediatrics 5.7 (2022): 37-45.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Kristine M Prayon and Anabella S Oncog. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.