Doxycycline in Hospitalized Patients with Dengue

The objective of this study was to determine whether individuals with dengue who received doxycycline had a shorter hospitalization time.

An observational, retrospective, and comparative study was conducted in an anonymized database with 64 hospitalized dengue patients from Clinic Fatima, Trujillo, Peru. They were diagnosed and treated according to the Peruvian Ministry of Health guidelines. Of the patients, 47 received doxycycline with an initial dose of 200 mg, followed by 100 mg every 12 h until discharge. The remaining 17 received only symptomatic treatment in accordance with Peruvian guidelines. Clinical and laboratory variables were compared between groups.

Both groups had similar ages, sex distribution and pre-hospitalization fever time, with dengue being the only infectious disease that they had. The doxycycline group had significantly shorter pre-hospitalization durations of headache (103.15 ± 26.30 vs. 125.68 ± 31.21 h, p = 0.009) and longer myalgia (97.02 ± 19.35 vs. 81.88 ± 19.08, p = 0.014) time. Compared to patients who received only the standard treatment, those treated with doxycycline had a shorter hospitalization time (26.30 ± 13.72 vs. 93.18 ± 25.29 h, p < 0.0001), as well as shorter durations of fever (13.79 ± 16.18 vs. 127.08 ± 51.22, p < 0.0001), headache (16.30 ± 19.27 vs. 94.59 ± 26.11, p < 0.0001), and myalgia (23.94 ± 10.90 vs. 120.24 ± 25.20, p < 0.0001). Furthermore, the doxycycline group exhibited a higher platelet recovery rate (0.54 ± 0.49 vs. 0.23 ± 0.29 × 10³/µL·h^-1, p = 0.003), and none of them discontinued it due to adverse reactions. Despite limitations, including the sample size and lack of randomization, the findings suggest that doxycycline may represent a promising and useful therapeutic alternative in the management of dengue.

The use of doxycycline in dengue treatment was associated with reduced hospitalization time, shorter symptom duration, and a higher platelet recovery rate.