Evaluation of Calcium Levels in Dengue Patient

Background and objectives Dengue fever (DF) is a major public health problem in India, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. Calcium have been implicated in immunopathogenesis of dengue and is associated with cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial dysfunction. It also plays a role in platelet aggregation. However, there is no evidence that hypocalcaemia is of clinical importance and role of calcium replacement in dengue patients. This study was undertaken to evaluate the relation of serum ionised calcium levels in DF and to correlate with severity. Methodology This descriptive study was undertaken in the Department of General Medicine, Father Muller Medical College, Mangaluru, Karnataka. A total of 43 confirmed cases of DF based WHO criteria were investigated for serum ionized calcium levels and correlated with severity. Results In the present study serum ionized calcium levels ranged between 3.10 to 5.01 mg/dL. The mean and median serum ionized calcium levels were 4.29±0.48 and 4.40 mg/dL. Majority of the patients (79.07 %) had lower serum ionized calcium levels. The decrease in platelet count was significantly associated with decrease in serum ionized calcium levels (p=0.019). The mean serum ionized calcium levels also decreased significantly with severe DF (pless than0.001). Majority of the patients were males (81.4 %). Most of the patients were aged between 18 to 30 years and the mean age was 34.02±13.85 years. Conclusion and interpretation Hypocalcemia is a common biochemical derangement in DF. Further it is associated with platelet count and severity of the DF.