Correlation between CRP and ferritin in dengue patients: A hospital-based prospective observational study

In India, dengue is one of the health challenges and a leading cause of hospitalization, especially during the monsoon. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an independent marker for dengue severity. The present study aimed to analyze the correlation between CRP and ferritin and with other hematological markers in dengue fever (DF).

A hospital-based prospective study was conducted over one year. With the patient's consent, A total of 189 dengue-diagnosed hospitalized patients aged more than 18 years were included in the study group. Demographic features, total leukocytes, total platelet counts, packed cell volume, CRP, and ferritin were monitored in both severe and non-severe cases. Significant univariate parameters were correlated and significant associations were analyzed from the correlation coefficient and P value respectively.

A total of 189 dengue-diagnosed, hospitalized patients were recruited, among them 30 patients were diagnosed as severe and 159 patients were diagnosed as non-severe. The mean age ranged between 41 ± 16.7 and 42 ± 15.9 years. In univariate analysis, total leucocytes, CRP, and ferritin were significantly higher in dengue severe cases in comparison to non-severe dengue cases. The association between CRP and ferritin revealed a positive correlation whereas, the association between ferritin and total platelet count showed a negative correlation.

A significant positive correlation between CRP and ferritin indicates that ferritin can be an additional biomarker along with CRP for the hospitalization of dengue patients and may be useful for severity prediction at an early stage of infection.