Analysis of Clinical and Etiological Spectrum of Febrile Thrombocytopenia and correlation of Platelet Indices with Recovery

Introduction: Patients with severe thrombocytopenia must be admitted to the hospital in order to be monitored and treated since they may require immediate platelet transfusions. Reduced platelet production, aberrant distribution, or accelerated platelet degradation can all lead to thrombocytopenia. 

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in Department of Pathology, Department of General Medicine and Department of Microbiology, Government Vellore Medical college, Vellore. During this period 60 cases of fever (oral or axillary temperature of more than 380C at time of admission with Platelet count less than 1.5 lakhs /cu.mm at any point of hospital stay were included in the study.

Results:  Among the 268 fever cases admitted in our centre during the month of August and September 2018, 60 patients had febrile thrombocytopenia accounting for 22.3%. The study group showed steady rise in platelet count, mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width in majority of patients during the follow up period. statistically significant correlation was found between platelet count and other platelet indices such as mean platelet volume and plateletcrit. The mean platelet volume and platelet crit showed statistically significant correlation with platelet count. Duration of hospitalisation showed negative correlation with platelet count and plateletcrit. Among those with rising trend in platelet count during recovery significant correlation was found between the trends of MPV and PDW.

Conclusion: Undifferentiated fevers predominate in our geographic area which needs further research. Platelet count and plateletcrit has inverse relationship with hospitalization duration while MPV and PDW do not have significant association with hospitalization or fever duration.