Childhood Immune Thrombocytopenia: Long-term Follow-up Data Evaluated by the Criteria of the International Working Group on Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Objective: Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a common bleeding disorder in childhood, characterized by isolated thrombocytopenia. The International Working Group (IWG) on ITP recently published a consensus report about the standardization of terminology, definitions, and outcome criteria in ITP to overcome the difficulties in these areas. Materials and Methods: The records of patients were retrospectively collected from January 2000 to December 2009 to evaluate the data of children with ITP by using the new definitions of the IWG. Results: The data of 201 children were included in the study. The median follow-up period was 22 months (range: 12-131 months). The median age and platelet count at presentation were 69 months (range: 7-208 months) and 19x10(9)/L (range: 1x10(9)/L to 93x10(9)/L), respectively. We found 2 risk factors for chronic course of ITP: female sex (OR=2.55, CI=1.31-4.95) and age being more than 10 years (OR=3.0, CI=1.5-5.98). Life-threatening bleeding occurred in 5% (n=9) of the patients. Splenectomy was required in 7 (3%) cases. When we excluded 2 splenectomized cases, complete remission at 1 year was achieved in 70% (n=139/199). The disease was resolved in 9 more children between 12 and 90 months. Conclusion: Female sex and age above 10 years old significantly influenced chronicity. Therefore, long-term follow-up is necessary in these children.