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Updated: Jul 30, 2026
08:36
Measuring Dengue Virus RNA in the Culture Supernatant of Infected Cells by Real-time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction
Published on: November 1, 2018
Is dengue severity related to nutritional status?
Siripen Kalayanarooj1, Suchitra Nimmannitya
1Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Ministry of Public Health, Bangkok, Thailand. sirip@health.moph.go.th
Summary
Nutritional status significantly impacts dengue infection risk and severity in children. Malnourished children have a lower risk but higher shock risk, while obese children face increased infection risk and unusual complications.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Infectious Diseases
- Nutritional Science
Background:
- Dengue infection is a significant public health concern, particularly in pediatric populations.
- Nutritional status, including malnutrition and obesity, may influence dengue infection susceptibility and disease progression.
- Understanding these relationships is crucial for effective dengue management and prevention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between nutritional status (malnourished, normal, obese) and dengue infection risk, clinical presentation, and outcomes in children.
- To compare the incidence of severe dengue manifestations, complications, and case fatality rates across different nutritional groups.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 4,532 confirmed dengue cases admitted to Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health between 1995 and 1999.
- Classification of patients into malnourished, normal, and obese categories based on weight for age.
- Comparison of dengue infection risk, clinical signs, symptoms, laboratory findings, shock, unusual presentations, complications, and case-fatality rates (CFR) among the nutritional groups.
Main Results:
- Malnourished children had a lower risk of dengue infection (OR=0.48), while obese children had a higher risk (OR=1.96).
- Malnourished patients showed a higher risk of shock (37.8%) compared to normal (29.9%) and obese (30.2%) children.
- Obese children experienced more unusual presentations like encephalopathy (1.3%) and fluid overload complications (6.5%).
- Case-fatality rates were higher in malnourished (0.5%) and obese (0.4%) children compared to normal (0.07%) children.
Conclusions:
- Nutritional status significantly influences dengue infection risk and disease severity in children.
- Both malnutrition and obesity are associated with increased risks of severe dengue manifestations and complications.
- These findings highlight the importance of considering nutritional status in dengue prevention and clinical management protocols.
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