title: Frequency of immune thrombocytopenia in newborns: a prospective study. Immune Thrombocytopenia Working Group.
abstract: Thrombocytopenia is a common condition in distressed newborns, but little is known about thrombocytopenia in an unselected cohort of neonates. In an attempt to address this issue, a multicenter prospective study was conducted in three obstetrical wards of AP-HP in Paris. We found the frequency of neonatal thrombocytopenia (<150 x 10(9)/L) to approximate 0.9% (48 of 5,632 appropriate samples). An immune mechanism was likely to be the cause of thrombocytopenia in 10 of the 33 cases studied, implying an incidence of 0.3% of immune neonatal thrombocytopenia in the general population. The frequency of alloimmune thrombocytopenia was 1.5/1,000 liveborn neonates, and 1/1,000 when considering anti-HPA-1a allo-immunization. Because thrombocytopenia, whatever its cause, was often silent and delayed, it appears that the only way to detect neonatal thrombocytopenia in time to prevent its potential disastrous complications would be to perform a systematic neonatal blood sampling for platelet count. All cases of ascertained thrombocytopenia should then be screened for an immune mechanism to enable early detection of autoimmune diseases in mothers and careful monitoring of subsequent pregnancies and deliveries, leading to appropriate prevention of potential severe deleterious effects in the offspring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Hematology, Hôpital Bicêtre, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dreyfus
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Verdy
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schlegel
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Durand-Zaleski
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tchernia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016824:Antigens, Human Platelet / Q000276:immunology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007112:Immunity, Maternally-Acquired; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D039661:Integrin beta3; D007518:Isoantibodies / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D010297:Paris / Q000453:epidemiology; D010976:Platelet Count; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000276:immunology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000150:complications / Q000151:congenital* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016824:Antigens, Human Platelet; C061248:ITGB3 protein, human; D039661:Integrin beta3; D007518:Isoantibodies