Abstract

Objective: To assess frequency with socioeconomic parameters of suspected and probable cases of dengue among adult patients suffering from fever, presenting in DHQ Hospital Gwadar, Pakistan.
Methodology: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 300 adult patients suffering from fever presenting at DHQ Hospital Gwadar. A simple random sampling technique was used. Data were collected through a questionnaire, which was entered into the computer using SPSS 20.
Result: Among 300 patients, 42.0% were 21-30 years old, 64.0% were females, 55.3% were intermediate and above, 47.0% patients had a total family monthly income of more than 50,000 rupees and 70.0% were living in urban areas while 85.3 had no history of travel during last 14 days. Among these patients, 71.7% had normal platelet count. We found that 10.3% were suspected cases of dengue while 89.7% were probable cases of dengue.
Conclusion: We conclude that 10.3% were probable and 89.7% were suspected cases of dengue and that suspected dengue fever was more common among females. Our study also shows that dengue is more common in people of high socioeconomic status.

Key words: Dengue, fever, pyrexia.