A retrospective cohort study was conducted to assess the effect of early (1-4 days after fever onset) and delayed (≥5 days) care-seeking on outcomes of dengue-infected patients. We used data of adult dengue-infected patients treated in Bangkok, Thailand between June 2012 and September 2013. There were 110 patients in the early care-seeking group and 100 in the delayed care-seeking group. There were no deaths. Bleeding complications were not significantly different between the two groups while the latter group had a significantly higher rate of admission compared with the former (98% versus 91.8%, respectively; P = 0.04). Being female was the only factor significantly associated with delayed care-seeking (63.0% versus 45.5%; P = 0.01).
Keywords: Adult; Thailand; care-seeking; dengue; outcomes.