Prospective study of patients with persistent symptoms of dengue in Brazil

Abstract

Dengue is an arboviral infection clinically recognized as an acute and self-limited disease. Persistence of dengue symptoms is known, but it has been little studied. The aim of this study was to characterize persistent symptoms in 113 patients with dengue followed up clinically and by laboratory testing at a tertiary hospital. Symptoms that persisted for more than 14 days were observed in 61 (54.0%) patients, and six (6.2%) of them had symptoms for 6 months or more. The persistent symptoms identified were myalgia, weakness, hair loss, memory loss, reduced resistance to physical effort, headache, reasoning problems, arthralgia, sleepiness- and emotional lability. The progression to persistent symptoms was significantly associated with hospitalization, older age, more severe disease, the presence of bleeding and comorbidities upon univariate analysis. Upon multivariate analysis, the presence of persistent symptoms continued to be significantly associated only with increased age and dengue with warning signs. The platelet count during the acute phase of the disease was significantly lower in the group with persistent symptoms. In conclusion, the frequency of progression to persistent symptoms in dengue is relevant in patients seen at a tertiary hospital and the persistence of symptoms is more common in patients with dengue with warning signs.