Successful Outpatient Management of Children at a Secondary Care Hospital in Pakistan in a Dengue Fever Epidemic and Their Clinical Outcomes

Table 2

Comparison of baseline laboratory investigations of the outpatient and inpatient groups at initial presentation.

Investigations	Outpatient group (DF)^7 (n = 87)	Inpatient group (severe DF)^7 (n = 6)	value
Hemoglobin (g/dl), mean ± SD	11.0 ± 1.1	11.3 ± 1.1	0.649
Total leucocyte count (x10^3/μl), mean ± SD	5235.6 ± 1218.9	3350 ± 665.6	0.020
Range of total leucocyte count (x10^3/μl)	2700–9500	2200–4700	—
Total leucocyte count <4,000 (x10^3/μl), n (%)	20 (23)	6 (100)	—
Total platelet count (x10^3/μl), mean ± SD	195.8 ± 43.4	65.2 ± 35.0	0.000
Range of platelets (x10^3/μl)	72,000–316,000	16,000–150,000	—
Platelet count <150,000 (x10^3/μl), n (%)	24 (28)	6 (100)
Platelet count <50,000 (x10^3/μl), n (%)	0	6 (100)	—
Hematocrit (mean ± SD)	36.4 ± 1.8	43.3 ± 3.9	0.000
Range of hematocrit	33–42	39–48
ALT raised, n/N^1 (%)
Mildly raised (40–75 IU/L)	3 (4.1)	0	0.000
Moderately raised (76 to 999 IU/L)	0	3 (50.0)
Markedly raised (≥1000 IU/L)	0	0
AST raised–n/N^2 (%)
Mildly raised (40–75 IU/L)	3 (4.1)	3 (50)	0.000
Moderately raised (76 to 999 IU/L)	0	0
Markedly raised (≥1000 IU/L)	0	0
CXR abnormality, n/N^3 (%)	0	1^4 (16.7)	0.000
USG abdomen abnormality, n/N^5 (%)	0	2^6 (33.3)	0.000

¹ALT was done in 78 patients in total (72 in outpatient and 6 in inpatient). ²AST was done in 73 patients in total (67 in outpatient and 6 in inpatient), ³CXR was done in 10 children in total (5 in outpatient and 5 in inpatient). ⁴Pleural effusion. ⁵USG abdomen was done in 13 children in total (8 in outpatient and 5 in inpatient). ⁶Ascites. ⁷All these children had DF according to WHO criteria with NS1Ag confirmation. ⁷All these children had SD, according to WHO criteria at presentation with NS1Ag confirmation.