Clinical Profile of Patients with Chikungunya Fever in a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study

Background and study aim: Chikungunya fever is an infectious disease with significant morbidity. It occurs during monsoons in many parts of India and now Jammu region is also witnessing it. This study was done in the Department of Medicine to see the clinical profile of chikungunya patients and to find the correlation of severity of symptoms with Erythrocyte Sedimentation rate (ESR), C Reactive Protein (CRP) and vitamin D level.Patients and Methods: This was an observational cross- sectional study done on 100 adult patients of Chikungunya fever in 2024. Data analysis was performed to compute descriptive statistics. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to see the relation between different variables and Chi Square test for sub-group analysisResults: Male to female ratio was 1.4:1 with most common affected age-group being 20 to 39 years. Fever and arthralgias were the most common symptoms. Fever lasted for 3 days in majority of patients. Arthralgia started on third day of illness in most of the patients. Joints were symmetrically involved in majority with small joints of hands being most common.18 patients required hospitalization. There was a positive correlation of ESR and CRP with number of joints involved. Swollen joints were seen more in females than males. Patients requiring hospitalization had higher ESR and CRP and lower vitamin D than those not requiring hospitalization.Conclusion: This study confirms arthropathy as the main feature in Chikungunya, with more morbidity in females and in those with high CRP and ESR and low vitamin D.