Clinical and Laboratory Profile of Dengue Fever in Children Admitted to a Tertiary Care Centre

Background: Dengue fever is one of the most important public health problems for children in tropical areas, with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations from a simple fever to a severe disease such as dengue with shock, bleeding or involvement of the organs. The objective is to analyse clinical features, laboratory profile, serological profile, classification, requirements of treatment and short-term outcome of children admitted with dengue fever. Material and Methods: This was an observational study in the Department of Pediatrics at Government Medical College, Kamareddy, Telangana, India from March 2025 to February 2026. 100 children were included of whom 100 had been admitted with serologically confirmed dengue fever. Descriptive statistical methods were used to record and analyze demographic data, clinical features, signs of warning, laboratory findings, serological status, supportive treatment and outcome. Results: The mean age was 8.4 ± 3.6 years and 6–10 years was the most common age group. Male was 58.0% of the cases. Children had fever as the initial symptom and asthenia, abdominal pain, headache, myalgia, retro-orbital pain, rash, hepatomegaly, bleeding manifestations, and shock, followed. There were 48.0%, 40.0%, and 12.0% of children with dengue without warning signs, dengue with warning signs and severe dengue, respectively. Commonest laboratory abnormalities were thrombocytopenia. A total of 64% had platelet count < 100,000/mm3, 28% had severe thrombocytopenia, 38% had leukopenia, 24% had raised hematocrit and 48% had raised SGOT. The 56.0% that were NS1 antigen positive. All children made it through and were discharged. Conclusion: Fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, an elevated hematocrit and elevated hepatic enzymes were the most important findings. Optimal recognition and monitoring, fluid therapy, and supportive care led to good outcomes.

Keywords: Dengue fever; Children; Thrombocytopenia; Leukopenia; NS1 antigen; Severe dengue; Pediatric infectious disease.