A screening tool for dengue fever in children

Area of Science:

• Pediatric infectious diseases
• Clinical diagnostics
• Public health surveillance

Background:

• Dengue fever (DF) poses a significant public health challenge in Asia.
• Accurate and rapid case-finding tools are crucial for managing DF outbreaks.
• Early detection in children is vital for timely intervention and reducing disease burden.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a rapid, accurate case-finding tool for Dengue Fever in pediatric populations.
• To utilize clinical and laboratory data for predicting DF risk in children.
• To create a cost-effective diagnostic aid for DF in resource-limited settings.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 24 DF-related characteristics (17 clinical, 7 laboratory) from 177 pediatric patients.
• Psychometric evaluation of data using a Rasch measurement model.
• Assessment of predictive values for DF risk using derived scales.

Main Results:

• The 14-item Dengue Fever scale (DF-14) demonstrated a good fit with the measurement model.
• At a cutoff of -1.15 (logit), the DF-14 scale achieved 0.76 sensitivity and 0.76 specificity.
• The DF-2 scale, using white blood cell and platelet counts, showed clinical utility for simple DF assessment.
• The Area Under the Curve (AUC) for the DF-14 scale was 0.93, indicating high diagnostic accuracy.

Conclusions:

• Simple laboratory data, as incorporated in the DF-2 and DF-14 scales, are valuable for early Dengue Fever risk detection in children.
• The DF-14 scale effectively differentiates Dengue Fever from other febrile illnesses.
• These scales may reduce reliance on expensive and time-consuming confirmatory dengue diagnostic tests.