Renal manifestations of dengue viral infection

Dengue-related renal manifestations such as proteinuria, hematuria in the absence of thrombocytopenia, rhabdomyolysis, and acute kidney injury (AKI) are not uncommon. There is relatively sparse data on the renal manifestations of dengue viral infection (DVI). Hence, a retrospective study was conducted to investigate the incidence, characteristics, and clinical outcome of DVI with renal manifestations. A total of 2416 patients were admitted to our hospital with the diagnosis of dengue fever during the study period from 2012 to 2015. Data were collected from the electronic medical records and were analyzed retrospectively. The disease severity was classified according to the World Health Organization criteria. The renal manifestations were divided into AKI and non-AKI groups using AKI Network (AKIN) criteria. Proteinuria was defined as urinary protein >1+ (30 mg/dL) by dipstick test. A total of 218 patients were found to have proteinuria (9.56%). Most of the patients [135 (58.44%) with renal manifestations] were aged between 15 and 30 years. Comorbid conditions including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease were seen in 10 (4.31%), 11 (4.76%), and six (2.59%) patients, respectively. Nephrotic-range proteinuria was seen in five patients (2.16%). AKI was seen in 82 patients (3.4%); 58 (70.73%) had AKIN-I, 19 (23.17%) had AKIN-II, and five patients (6.09%) had AKIN-III. Death occurred in 11 patients (39.28%) with AKI. The incidence of renal manifestations (proteinuria, hematuria, and AKI) is high at 9.59% among patients with dengue, and those with AKI had significant morbidity, mortality, longer hospital stay, and poor renal outcomes. Our findings suggest that AKI in dengue is likely to increase health-care burden that underscores the need for clinician's alertness to this highly morbid and potentially fatal complication for optimal prevention and management.