To analyze the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with dengue fever in Guangdong Province in 2019, so as to provide reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment of dengue fever.

The general data, laboratory examination data, clinical manifestations and prognosis data of 480 inpatients with dengue fever admitted to Eight People′s Hospital Affiliated to Guangzhou Medical University between January 4 and October 31, 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. The clinical and onset characteristics of patients with dengue fever were described.

Among 480 dengue patients, 442(92.1%) were dengue fever, 38(7.9%) were severe dengue, and 136(28.3%) had underlying diseases. The peak age of onset was mainly in young adults aged 20 to 49 years old, accounting for 66.0%(317/480) in total. The seasonal peak was mainly in August to October. There were 399(83.1%) local cases and 61(12.7%) imported cases. The most common clinical manifestations were fever (98.1%, 471/480), chills (72.9%, 350/480), headache (58.5%, 281/480) and bone/joint/muscle pain (67.1%, 322/480), followed by digestive tract symptoms and respiratory tract symptoms. Among 446 serum samples, 358 (80.3%) were dengue virus (DENV)-1, 54 (12.1%) were DENV-2, 34 (7.6%) were DENV-3. The main laboratory tests of the patients were leucopenia (65.8%, 316/480), low hematocrit (30.2%, 145/480), thrombocytopenia (48.3%, 232/480), neutropenia (44.8%, 215/480), elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (37.7%, 181/480) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (59.4%, 285/480). Treatment mainly adopted symptomatic support treatment and active prevention of complications. The length of stay was (5.8±3.1) days (range 1.0-38.0 days). A total of 461(96.0%) patients were cured or improved.

In 2019, the majority of dengue fever patients in Guangdong Province are young adults aged 20 to 49 years old, and the proportion of severe patients is high, with DENV-1 infection as the main type. After symptomatic support treatment and active prevention of complications, most of the dengue fever patients have a good prognosis.

Dengue; Dengue virus; Epidemiology; Clinical characteristics