Background and objectives: Dengue virus infection is generally asymptomatic or mild. Thrombocytopenia is a common biological sign and in some severe cases, bleeding can occurs. Our study aimed to assess thrombocytopenia and bleeding in dengue virus infection in Burkina Faso.

Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study that included cases of dengue fever admitted in seven health facilities during the dengue fever outbreak in 2016 and 2017.All statistic tests were performed at a significance level of 5%.

Results: A total of 296 patients were included, comprising 154 males (52%). The frequency of bleeding was 25%, with no gender difference (p=0.347). Elderly patients (over 55 years) were less likely to bleed (OR = 0.10, CI 95% [0.02-0.63]; p = 0.014), but were more transfused (OR = 8.96, CI 95% [1.07-74.90]; p = 0.043) than younger ones. There was more bleeding patients with moderate thrombocytopenia (OR = 6.84, CI 95% [2.72-17.25]; p = 0.001) and severe thrombocytopenia (OR = 6.66, CI 95% [2.36-18.86]; p = 0.008). The median in-hospital LOS was significantly long (median = 5 [IQR: 4 – 6.5]) days in transfused patients compared to non-transfused ones (median = 4 [IQR: 2 – 5]) days (p = 0.0001).

Conclusion: There was no significant increase in platelet count in transfused and not transfused patients, meaning that platelet transfusion had no longer benefit in reduction of clinical or severe bleeding or improvement in platelet count recovery. Further studies are expected to better explore this issue.