Abstract
Background
Dengue virus remains a major public health problem with one of the hallmark pathologies is the vascular leakage caused by endothelial dysfunction which can lead to Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) manifestation. In the status quo, no specific therapy has been discovered but rather heavily relies on judicious and frequent monitoring of intravenous fluids administration. The current guideline has discussed the roles of fluid therapy during the Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS) stage, however, administration of early fluid intervention for DHF grade I and II remains uncharted territory. In addition, the choice and timing of colloid administration remains underexplored. As one of the widely available colloids, 5% albumin has known physiological properties that potentially minimize plasma leakage. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the benefit of early intervention of 5% albumin in adults with DHF in the hope of preventing the lethal progression to DSS and further, shorten the length of stay (LOS) for patients.
Methods
We conducted a multicenter, open-labeled, randomized controlled trial in Jakarta and Banten to compare the effect of early intervention with 5% albumin in adult patients with DHF compared to Ringer’s Lactate (RL). Statistical analyses were conducted using unpaired t-test and Mann-Whitney for normally and abnormally distributed data respectively.
Results
Adult patients with a diagnosis of DHF grade I and II that being hospitalized to receive the early intervention of 5% albumin had significantly lower levels of hemoconcentration 4, 12, and 24 hours (p = 0.002, 0.001, 0.003, respectively), higher platelet counts 4 hours (p = 0.036), higher serum albumin levels 48 hours (p = 0.036), lower proteinuria 24 and 48 hours post-albumin administration (p < 0.001, < 0.001, respectively), and shorter LOS (p < 0.001) when compared to the RL group.
Conclusion
Early intervention of 5% albumin showed better control on vascular integrity and function compared to ringer lactate in hospitalized adults with grade I & II DHF, thus halting the progression of DHF into DSS and other related complications which leads to faster recovery and shorter length of stay.
Trial Registration:
The study was registered to www.clinicaltrial.gov with trial registration number NCT04076254, and registration date October 31st 2016.