Original Research Paper Clinical Profile of Children with Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia and Factors Predicting Poor Response to Initial Treatment

Childhood immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune bleeding disorder. Most children recover with initial treatment, but the individual course is hard to predict. The objectives were to study the clinical profile of children with Primary ITP and to identify factors that may predict poor response to initial treatment. Methods: It is a retrospective & prospective study done in a tertiary hospital. 29 Acute ITP & 26 Persisting/Chronic ITP cases are studied. Results: Acute ITP group was characterized by younger age of onset(p=0.003), duration of symptoms at presentation <2 weeks (p <0.001) and relatively high absolute lymphocyte count(p=0.019). Children in chronic ITP group had presented at older ages with low absolute lymphocyte count. However, the difference was statistically insignificant.