An analysis of risk factors for fever with thrombocytopenia in children under 12 years of age

Abstract

Background: Children with thrombocytopenia (TP) who are hospitalized for fever may experience a stormy course with significant morbidity and mortality. Certain prognostic criteria are required during admission to predict the prognosis and to alert the treating paediatrician. Aim of the study: An investigation of risk factors for fever with thrombocytopenia within children under the age of 12 Methods: One hundred children who were admitted to GGH (Government General Hospital) SMC (Siddhartha Medical College), Vijayawada between March 2021 and February 2022 participated in this prospective observational study. Using a pre-structured proforma, many parameters were collected. To analyze the data, SPSS version 21.0 was utilized. Results: One hundred cases in all were examined. 70% (70 cases) consisted only of fever, 7% (7 cases) consisted of fever with bleeding, 18% (18 cases) consisted of fever with shock and 5% (5 cases) had both bleeding and shock with fever. 17% of the 18% of children who experienced fever and shock were hospitalised for >4 days. Of the 5% of children who experienced shock and bleeding with fever, 4% were hospitalised for >4 days. Included admission, 22% of children had leukopenia, 64% had a normal WBC count and 14% had leukocytosis. There is no significant influence of the total WBC counts in predicting the outcome. Of the children admitted, 49% had positive dengue serology, 22% had positive malarial smear results, 13% had Widal test, 12% had positive scrub serology results and 4% had positive urine culture and sensitivity results. Conclusion: One of the most difficult issues with the concealed presentation of common diseases in children as opposed to unusual disorders is fever with thrombocytopenia. Thrombocytopenia is frequently caused by infections such as enteric fever, septicemia, malaria, and dengue fever. High morbidity in the form of bleeding and shock, or both, was more likely to occur in children with platelet counts below 5000, increased hematocrit, abnormal renal function tests, elevated liver enzymes, and abnormal coagulation profile at the time of admission. According to the study, dengue fever and malaria were the main causes of thrombocytopenia.