Prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus as comorbidities among hospitalized dengue patients in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Background: Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection caused by four dengue serotypes and transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Pre- existing conditions such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus are recognized as important comorbidities that may worsen disease severity, increasing the risk of plasma leakage, organ dysfunction, prolonged hospitalization, and mortality. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus among hospitalized dengue patients in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and to evaluate the age distribution and selected clinical and hematological characteristics of the affected patients. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional observational study was conducted at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh, during July 2025. A total of 45 serologically confirmed dengue patients were included using consecutive sampling from hospitalized admissions. Dengue infection was confirmed by NS1 antigen and/or anti-dengue IgM antibody testing. Clinical and laboratory evaluations included platelet count, blood pressure measurement, and random blood glucose assessment. Hypertension was defined as a prior documented diagnosis, ongoing antihypertensive therapy, or systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg on repeated assessment. Diabetes mellitus was defined by a previous physician diagnosis, antidiabetic medication use, or random blood glucose ≥11.1 mmol/L (200 mg/dL). Results: Among the 45 hospitalized dengue patients, 31 (68.9%) were male and 14 (31.1%) were female, with a mean age of 24.6 ± 11.3 years. Of the total cohort, 13 (28.9%) were pediatric patients. Marked thrombocytopenia was observed across the study population, reflecting the hematological impact of acute dengue infection. No patient had documented hypertension or diabetes mellitus, corresponding to a prevalence of 0% (95% CI: 0.0–6.7%) based on the rule-of-three estimation for zero-event observations. Conclusion: In this small hospital-based study, no documented cases of hypertension or diabetes mellitus were identified among dengue- positive hospitalized patients. These findings should be interpreted cautiously because of the limited sample size, the relatively young age distribution of the cohort, and the possibility of under-documentation of pre-existing chronic conditions. Larger multicenter prospective studies are warranted to clarify the true prevalence and clinical significance of metabolic comorbidities in dengue infection.