LIVER FUNCTION TESTING AS A POTENTIAL BIOMARKER OF DISEASE SEVERITY IN DENGUE PATIENTS

Abstract

To find out if there is any relationship between increased derangement of liver profile (ALT, AST, Total Bilirubin and decreased Albumin) with disease severity of Dengue Fever.

Study design: Analytical, Cross sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted from July 2025 to October 2025 at Institute of Learning and Study (ILS) at Department of Medicine, Pakistan Emirates Medical Hospital (PEMH), Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Method: The 410 patients who were confirmed to have dengue serology were analyzed. The most important variable studied was co-relation between the liver function tests and the severity of dengue. Secondary variables studied were the occurrence of disease related complications and outcome of the patient.

Results:  There were significant strong positive correlations between the severity of the disease and liver function tests (LFT) such as AST (ρ = 0.763, p<0.001), ALT (ρ = 0.744, p<0.001), total bilirubin (ρ = 0.687, p<0.001) and direct bilirubin (ρ = 0.692, p<0.001). Moderate-to-strong positive correlations were observed for ALP (ρ = 0.529, p < 0.001) and prothrombin time (ρ = 0.529, p < 0.001), while GGT (ρ = 0.503, p < 0.001) and INR (ρ = 0.561, p < 0.001) showed moderate positive correlations. The moderate negative correlation with the severity was significant for the serum albumin (ρ = –0.459, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The data obtained from our study confirms that there is a strong association between severity of dengue infection and hepatic dysfunction as evidenced by significant increase in AST, ALT, bilirubin, PT/INR and decrease in serum albumin level with increasing severity of the infection from Dengue without warning signs to Dengue severe.