Evaluation of the Causes of Early and Late Thrombocytopenia in the Newborn

Abstract

Objective: Thrombocytopenia is the most common hematological disorder that is encountered in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The incidence of thrombocytopenia in neonates may varies greatly depending upon admitted patients population of unit. This study was performed on neonates admitted to Yuzuncu Yil University of Dursun Odabaş Medical Center of NICU, the incidence and causes of thrombocytopenia. Material and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on the medical records of all neonates hospitalized at our hospital between May 2012 and March 2015 and those with thrombocytopenia were included in the study. The laboratory results of these newborns were retrospectively screened from the computer program and files, and included in the study were those with a thrombocytopenia level of less than 150.000/μL. Results: About 2780 patients were admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit during the study period. Of the 2780 neonates, 117 (4.2%) had thrombocytopenia (60.7% early onset and 39.3% late onset). Seventy-two of them (61.5%) were preterm. Intrauterine growth restriction, maternal hypertension, respiratory distress syndrome and sepsis were more common causes. Severe thrombocytopenia (<50.000/µL rate was found in 27% of neonates. In addition, although the rate of thrombocytopenia in asfixia was reported in the literature as 12-14%, this rate was 6.8% in our cases. There was no relation between occurrence of thrombocytopenia and gender. Conclusion: This study reveals that the causes of neonatal thrombocytopenia may show variations. In our study, intrauterine growth restriction, maternal hypertension, respiratory distress syndrome, and sepsis seem to be important risk factors for thrombocytopenia in neonates. Copyright © 2018 by Türkiye Klinikleri.