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Objectives. To document the clinical and epidemiological characteristics present in dengue patients served by a hospital in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. Methods. A cross-sectional, observational, and analytical study was carried out at the Hospital General Dr. Bernardo J. Gastélum de Culiacan from 1 October to 2 December 2003. Associations between the independent variables (the patients' clinical and epidemiological characteristics) and the dependent variable (confirmed hemorrhagic dengue) were determined through simple regression analysis. The variables that were significantly associated (P < 0.05) were submitted to multifactorial logistic regression analysis. Results. Of the only 241 cases that met the study's inclusion criteria (207 dengue and 34 hemorrhagic dengue), the mean age was 34.7 ± 15.1 years. According to the results of the multifactorial analysis (adjusted by age, sex, and the presence of dengue cases at the geographic location), the variables predictive of major complications of the disease were: the presence of ascites (odds ration [OR] = 22.12; 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 5.00-97.87), gingivorrhagia (OR = 7.35; 95%CI: 2.11-25.61), hematemesis (OR = 7.40; 95%CI: 1.04-52.42), thrombocytopenia (platelets from 40 001/mm³- 60 000/mm3) (OR = 5.43; 95%CI: 1.58-18.72), conjunctival hyperemia (OR = 4.27; 95%CI: 1.37-13.28), persistent vomiting (OR = 3.04; 95%CI: 1.05-8.80), and the absence of nasal congestion (OR = 0.015; 95%CI: 0.0004-0.473). Conclusions. The presence of ascites, gingivorrhagia, hematemesis, thrombocytopenia (with platelet values from 40 001/mm³-60 000/mm³), and persistent vomiting were confirmed as warning signs of an imminent dengue attack. Platelet counts of > 100 000/mm³ were confirmed in cases with acute clinical symptoms (capillary leak) that were not classified as hemorrhagic dengue due to falling short of the criteria established by WHO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]