Increased risk of autoimmune diseases in dengue patients: A population-based cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk of autoimmune diseases in dengue patients.

METHODS: We conducted a population-based cohort study by the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, including a total of 12,506 newly diagnosed dengue patients and 112,554 control subjects between 2000 and 2010, matched by gender, age, income, urbanization, and comorbidities. Both cohorts were followed for a 3-year period to examine the incidence of autoimmune diseases. A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was applied to calculate the risk of autoimmune diseases between both groups.

RESULTS: The dengue group showed an overall increased risk for 21 autoimmune diseases, with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 1.88 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.49-2.37, p < 0.001). Compared with the control group, the dengue group had higher risks of Reiter's syndrome (aHR 14.03, 95 % CI 1.63-120.58), multiple sclerosis (aHR 11.57, 95 % CI 1.8-74.4), myasthenia gravis (aHR 5.35, 95 % CI 1.43-20.02), autoimmune encephalomyelitis (aHR 3.8, 95% CI 1.85-7.8), systemic vasculitis (aHR 3.7, 95 % CI 1.11-12.28), systemic lupus erythematosus (aHR 3.5, 95% CI 1.85-6.63), and primary adrenocortical insufficiency (aHR 2.05, 95% CI 1.25-3.35).

CONCLUSION: Dengue patients were associated with an increased risk of autoimmune diseases.