Singapore study found they have a risk of heart complications such as irregular heartbeats, heart disease and blood clots.

 

People who caught dengue and recovered are more likely to face long-term health complications about a year later compared to those who contracted COVID-19, according to the findings of a nationwide study led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).

Specifically, those who caught dengue have a 55 percent higher risk of heart complications such as irregular heartbeats, heart disease and blood clots, compared with those who fell sick with COVID-19 and recovered.

Based on tests and medical claim records of 11,707 residents in Singapore with dengue and 1,248,326 who had COVID-19 (Delta and Omicron variant) between July 2021 and October 2022, the study looked for newly arising health problems related to the heart, neurological and immune system that appeared 31 to 300 days after the infection. The research team said that the circulation of dengue and COVID-19 in the study period provided a unique opportunity for comparison.

The study, published in the Journal of Travel Medicine in July 2024, is the first to examine the long-term risk of multiple health complications following dengue and the first to contrast the post-recovery risk of dengue and COVID-19 patients.

The study was carried out by researchers from NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), Ministry of Health, Singapore, Singapore General Hospital, and National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore and the National Environment Agency.

Lead author of the study, Assistant Professor Lim Jue Tao, infectious disease modelling at LKCMedicine, said, “We were motivated to conduct the study due to the increasing geographic range of dengue due to climate change. Dengue is one of the most common vector-borne diseases globally, and long-term health issues resulting from dengue can substantially increase the healthcare burdens of the infected person and the country.

“We also decided to compare the results against those who recovered from COVID-19 as our previous work had suggested increased risk of similar long-term health complications. Overall, our study underscores the need for people to guard against dengue in their environment and can be a resource to support public health planning.”

The study found that individuals who caught dengue had a 55 percent higher risk of new long-term heart complications, such as dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease and thrombotic disorders (101 of 11,166 patients, or 0.9 percent), compared to patients who recovered from COVID-19 (6494 of 1,206,208 patients, or 0.5 percent).

Dengue patients also had a 213 percent higher risk of cognition and memory disorders than those who had COVID-19 (39 of 11,632, or 0.3 percent in the dengue group compared to 1749 in 1,239,104, or 0.1 percent in COVID-19 group). Additionally, dengue patients had a 198 percent higher risk of new extrapyramidal (movement) disorders, when compared to COVID-19 patients who recovered (25 of 11,610, or 0.2 percent in the dengue group compared to 1270 in 1,238,195, or 0.1 percent, in COVID-19 group).

The researchers noted that there are limitations to the study. They include tracking only adults aged 18 years and older, which means the findings from the study cannot be generalised to the paediatric populations. Individual susceptibility to COVID-19 and dengue, such as genetic, behavioural, or environmental factors, which can influence risk estimates, were also not considered.

In future research, the team of researchers will compare the risk of long-term health complications across different dengue serotypes (variants), and the economic costs incurred from these complications.

** EDITOR’S NOTE: So be sure to empty any water in your flower pots, etc and spray mosquito repellent regularly. For more information on dengue, dengue clusters and other information, go to the National Environment Agency website.

(PHOTO CREDIT: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Unsplash)