Clinical course and prognostic factors of childhood immune thrombocytopenia: single center experience of 10 years

• Published in: Clinical and experimental pediatrics 2016-08, Vol.59 (8), p.335-340
• Main Authors: Jung, Jae Yeob, O, A Rum, Kim, Je Keong, Park, Meerim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute; Age; Blood platelets; Chronic; Chronic illnesses; Hemoglobin; Immune thrombocytopenia; Infections; Lymphocytes; Original; Patients; Risk factors; Steroids; Thrombocytopenia
• ISSN: 1738-1061; 2092-7258; 2713-4148
• DOI: 10.3345/kjp.2016.59.8.335

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical course of childhood immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and to assess the risk factors for developing chronic ITP. The records of 64 children diagnosed with ITP from November 2005 and December 2014 at single center were retrospectively analyzed. The median age at diagnosis and the median platelet count were 1 year (range, 1 month to 15 years) and 9×10(9)/L (range, 0-84×10(9)/L), respectively. No patient experienced severe bleeding. Nineteen children (29.7%) spontaneously recovered their platelet count to ≥100×10(9)/L at a median of 10 days. In total 45 patients (70.3%) received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) as first-line therapy, and showed platelet recovery at 1 week. The final diagnosis of 55 (85.9%) and 9 patients (14.1%) was acute and chronic ITP, respectively. Older age, absence of prior infection and insidious onset of symptoms were significantly associated with the development of chronic ITP. Among the patients who received IVIG, those with platelet count