Objective: to describe the dengue fever mortality.
Methods: a descriptive and retrospective study including 104 files reported deaths caused by dengue fever during 2009 to march 2010, was done.
Results: sixty (58 %) were women and 44 (42 %) men. An increased mortality between the ages of 11 and 40 years old (47 %) was observed. Colima was a state with high incidence of cases and Jalisco had the highest mortality. Thrombocytopenia was the rule (90.4 %) and in one third of the cases platelets were below 50,000/mm(3). A quarter of cases were associated with comorbility. The initial clinical manifestations included: bleeding, hypovolemia by depletion or hemorrhage, tachycardia, paleness, depressed level of consciousness and circulatory failure. The main cause of death was hypovolemic shock or sepsis. In 42 cases, severe dengue was considered.
Conclusions: an association between the severity of dengue fever and mortality was observed. The main cause of mortality was a shock state.