Objective

The purpose of this study was to explore the association between ethnicity and severity of dengue infection in the Mexican population.

Materials and Methods

We analyzed a national database of confirmed patients with dengue; data was collected between January 3 to November 29, 2021. We extracted the following information: demographics, ethnicity, associated comorbidities and outcomes of interest (need for hospitalization and death). Exploratory analysis using Chi-square was undertaken to examine the relationship between dengue severity and ethnicity. Other covariates were also included in logistic regression models (unadjusted and adjusted).

Results

5 759 patients were included in our analysis; the mean age was 27 years and 1,9% were indigenous people. There was no association between ethnicity and severity of dengue infection as measured by the percentage of people who died or required inpatient care. In the unadjusted model, we found an association between the following risk factors and need for hospitalization: age under 18 (OR: 2,48; p<0,001), living in rural areas (OR: 2,06; p<0,001), cirrhosis (OR: 5,71; p=0,033), chronic kidney disease

(OR: 4,76; p=0,008) and arterial hypertension (OR: 2,57, p<0,001). In the adjusted model, chronic kidney disease, diabetes mellitus and arterial hypertension were found to be associated with hospitalization.

Conclusions

In this retrospective cohort study of patients with dengue, we could not find and association between ethnicity and severity of dengue infection. Prospective studies that consider ethnicity are urgently needed.