Introduction: Dengue fever can present with a diverse clinical spectrum. Although liver is not a major target organ, hepatic dysfunction is a well recognized feature. In this study we attempted to study the pattern of hepatic involvement in children with dengue and its association with outcome of the disease. Methods: The present study was Prospective observational study consisting 220 confirmed cases of dengue fever. World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines were applied for categorization of patients into dengue without warning signs (DWWS), dengue with warning signs (DWS) and severe dengue (SD)1,2. Details clinical evaluation, hematological and radiological investigations to confirm diagnosis of Dengue, exclude other diagnosis, presence hepatic dysfunction, multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS), shock, fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) were done in all subjects. Statistical analysis was done to know the strength of association between different clinical, biochemical and radiological variables and outcome of the disease. Results and Conclusions: Our data suggests that hepatic dysfunction more common in subjects with SD. Presence of Hepatomegaly and gall bladder wall thickening were maximum in children with SD and may indicate presence of severe disease (P<0.001). Serum bilirubin, serum albumin, liver enzymes like ALT, AST, ALP were significantly raised in subjects with SD as compared to other two groups (P<0.001). MODS and FHF were found to be significant (p<0.001) in predicting outcome in patients with severe dengue. Awareness and early identification of hepatic dysfunction in dengue may be helpful in arriving at early diagnosis and help avoid morbidity and mortality.
