Serum cortisol levels in children with dengue haemorrhagic fever

Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is a serious and often fatal paediatric problem in Myanmar. Acute and convalescent serum cortisol levels were measured in 62 children with dengue infection to study cortisol sufficiency in this disease. Twenty-six children with non-dengue acute viral infection were also included as controls. In acute stage, highest mean serum cortisol level (655.4+/-72.18 nmol/l) was observed in DHF cases presenting with shock, followed by DHF non-shock cases (640.56+/-74.58 nmol/l) and dengue fever cases (617.2+/-75.38 nmol/l). Cases with DHF had significantly higher serum cortisol level (P < 0.05) than in controls (444.41+/-59.71 nmol/l). In cases of DHF, mean serum cortisol level during the acute stage was found to be significantly two-fold higher than the convalescent stage. We found no cortisol insufficiency in cases of dengue haemorrhagic fever during acute and convalescent stages of illness.