The association of nutritional status and dengue severity in Thai children

Abstract

Most of dengue illnesses were mild, but severe cases may lead to death. Therefore, the recognition of the associated factors of dengue severity was essential to improve outcomes and reduce mortality. The objectives of this study were to find out the distributions and associations between nutritional status and dengue severity among Thai children. This retrospective cross-sectional study was based on 355 medical records of pediatric dengue in the Hospital for Tropical Disease from 2017 to 2019. The sample were the Thais aged less than 18 years who had dengue infection by the positive NS1 antigen or IgM. WHO dengue classifications were used to define dengue severity, BMI for age and the WHO growth chart was used to classify the nutritional status. The distributions of underweight, normal weight and overweight in DF were 8.8%, 61.5%, 29.7% and those in DHF were 10.2%, 66.1%, 23.7%, respectively. On the other hand, the distributions of underweight, normal weight and overweight in non-severe dengue were 8.6%, 60.9%, 30.5% and those in severe dengue were 10.5%, 67.1%, 22.4%, respectively. The trend of overweight in dengue with severe plasma leakage (DSS) was more than that of dengue with mild plasma leakage (45.5% VS 18.8%). There was no statistical difference in the nutritional status among dengue severities.