Sociodemographic and entomological factors associated with dengue outbreaks in Sabah

Introduction: Dengue fever has reached an endemic status in approximately 128 countries worldwide, with a significant rise in the frequency of outbreaks. In recent years, Sabah has witnessed a surge in dengue cases, accompanied by a corresponding increase in dengue mortality. The reported deaths ros...

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Main Authors: Kunasagran, Priya Dharishini, Syed Abdul Rahim, Syed Sharizman, Jeffree, Mohammad Saffree, Atil, Azman, Hidrus, Aizuddin, Madrim, Mohd Faizal, Muyou, Adora J., Goh, Gary Chun Chao, Nasib, Rudi, Mohammad, Ahmad Hazim, Dapari, Rahmat, Hassan, Mohd Rohaizat, Koay, Teng Khoon, Mohd Aris, Halimatul Saadiah, Anak Langi, Daniel, Ansuny, Christopher
Format: Article
Published: Universiti Putra Malaysia 2023
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Summary:Introduction: Dengue fever has reached an endemic status in approximately 128 countries worldwide, with a significant rise in the frequency of outbreaks. In recent years, Sabah has witnessed a surge in dengue cases, accompanied by a corresponding increase in dengue mortality. The reported deaths rose from 8 in 2017 to 29 in 2018, marking a significant 362% increase within a year. This study aimed to investigate factors associated with dengue outbreaks in Sabah. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the surveillance data from 2017 to 2020 available in e-Dengue, the Malaysian National Dengue Registry. A simple and multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine the association between factors and the dengue outbreak. Results: Aged 21–59 have 66 % lower risk odds than 0–12 years old in contributing to dengue outbreaks (95% CI: 0.272–0.406). There are 1.729 times increased risk in students than in unemployed personnel of contributing to dengue outbreaks (95 % CI: 1.565–1.910), with employed personnel having 20.7% lower odds than unemployed personnel of contributing to dengue outbreaks (95 % CI: 0.623–0.767). Urban localities have 44.9% higher odds of developing dengue outbreaks than rural localities (OR: 1.449, 95 % CI: 1.334–1.574). AI ≥ 1% has 78.2% higher odds than AI <1% with a dengue outbreak (95 %: CI: 1.642–1.933). Conclusion: Future dengue prevention and control initiatives in Sabah may benefit greatly from this study’s sociodemographic and entomological findings.