Dengue patients at greater risk of acute cholecystitis and acute pancreatitis during first month

Written By : Aditi |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 28 Jun 2023 2:30 PM | Updated On 29 Jun 2023 3:05 PM

Original research published in Infectious Diseases and Therapy has concluded that dengue patients have an increased risk of acute cholecystitis and acute pancreatitis within the first 30 days postinfection than those without dengue. The researchers found no greater risk of acute appendicitis in these patients.

This study, “Risks of Acute Cholecystitis, Acute Pancreatitis, and Acute Appendicitis in Patients with Dengue Fever: A Population-Based Cohort Study in Taiwan”, is led by Dr Hsin-I Shih and colleagues.

Previous research has well-documented acute cholecystitis, acute pancreatitis, and acute appendicitis following dengue virus infections. There needs to be more data from large-scale studies determining the post-dengue risk of acute abdominal conditions.

The patients included had laboratory-confirmed dengue from 2002 to 2015 in Taiwan. The key results of the study are:

Sixty-five thousand six hundred ninety-four individuals with dengue, and 262,776 were without dengue.
Within the first 30 days of postinfection, there was an increased risk of acute cholecystitis and acute pancreatitis in dengue patients, with incident rates of 18.79 and 5.27 per 10,000
After this period, there was no increased risk.
There was no increased risk of acute appendicitis among patients with acute dengue infection.

Concluding further, they said, This study was the first large epidemiological study that has shown significantly increased risk of acute cholecystitis and pancreatitis among dengue patients during the acute phase of dengue infection.

Identifying acute cholecystitis and pancreatitis in dengue patients early is vital to prevent complications.

Study strengths were a large number of patients, no selection bias, and a reduced chance of false-positive findings.

The limitations were misclassification, non-availability of detailed medical records, etc.

BDS, MDS in Periodontics and Implantology

Dr. Aditi Yadav is a BDS, MDS in Periodontics and Implantology. She has a clinical experience of 5 years as a laser dental surgeon. She also has a Diploma in clinical research and pharmacovigilance and is a Certified data scientist. She is currently working as a content developer in e-health services. Dr. Yadav has a keen interest in Medical Journalism and is actively involved in Medical Research writing.

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751