ALT; An Indicator of Hepatic Involvement in Dengue Infection

Abstract

Background: Dengue infection, a major public
health problem, affects all body systems including
hepatobiliary system that can be assessed by
measuring serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT)
levels. The objective of this study was to compare
the extent of hepatic involvement in the patients of
dengue fever (DF) with that of the patients of
dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) by comparing
mean ALT levels and degree of rise in serum ALT
levels in patients of both groups, DF and DHF.
Methods: A comparative analytical study was
carried out at Department of Infectious Diseases,
Holy Family Hospital from September 2016 to
December 2016. A total of 184 seropositive dengue
patients were taken using non-randomized
consecutive sampling technique; 92 patients having
DF and 92 patients having DHF. Blood samples for
ALT levels were taken within 24 hours of diagnosis
of DF and DHF. SPSS version 22 was used to analyse
the data. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare
the mean ALT levels and Chi-Square test at 5%
significance level was applied to compare the degree
of rise in serum ALT levels in both groups.
Results: In this comparative analytical study, 184(42
females and 142males) seropositive dengue patients
were included. The mean serum ALT level in
patients of DF was 85.43(±58.685) while mean ALT
levels in patients of DHF was 167.76(±155.656),
(p=0.00).The degree of serum ALT rise in DHF
patients was significantly higher than that of DF
patients (p=0.00).
Conclusion: The extent of hepatic damage is more
in dengue haemorrhagic fever as compared to
uncomplicated dengue fever.
Keywords: dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic
fever, alanine aminotransferase