Association of severe thrombocytopenia and poor prognosis in pregnancies with aplastic anemia

We sought to estimate the risks of adverse obstetric outcomes and disease outcomes associated with severe thrombocytopenia in pregnant women with aplastic anemia (AA).

In a retrospective study, we compared demographics, clinical characteristics, laboratory results, and outcomes between severe thrombocytopenia (ST) and non-severe thrombocytopenia (non-ST) groups comprising pregnant women with AA.

Of 61 AA patients, 43 (70%) were diagnosed as AA before pregnancy and 18 (30%) were AA during pregnancy. The ST group exhibited lower gestational age at nadir of platelet count (26.0 versus 37.0 weeks, p<0.001) and at delivery (37.3 versus 39.1 weeks, p = 0.008), and a higher rate of bleeding gums (33.8 versus 7.7%, p = 0.015) than the non-ST group. In addition, the ST group exhibited more transfusions during pregnancy (72.7 versus 15.4%, p<0.001) and postpartum period (45.0 versus 2.7%, p<0.001), and more bone marrow transplant after delivery (25.0 versus 0.0%, p<0.001) than the non-ST group. The ST group had a higher odds ratio of composite disease complications (OR, 9.63; 95% CI, 2.82-32.9; p<0.001) and composite obstetric complications (OR, 6.78; 95% CI, 2.11-21.8; p = 0.001) than the non-ST group.

Severe thrombocytopenia is more associated with obstetric and disease complications than is non-severe thrombocytopenia in pregnant women with AA.