Thrombocytopenia in the intensive care unit

To determine the prevalence of thrombocytopenia in an ICU and assess which factors were associated with thrombocytopenia.

A review of the medical records of patients admitted during 3 separate months during 1 academic year. Patients must have survived at least 12 h in the ICU.

A medical ICU at a university hospital.

General medicine patients admitted to the ICU.

All medical records were reviewed. During the ICU stay, daily medications, events, and platelet count were noted. All patients were followed up until death or hospital discharge. In 22 patients, including 18 who had thrombocytopenia, bone marrow aspirates were performed.

One hundred sixty-two admissions were evaluated. Thirty-eight (23 percent) had platelet counts less than 100,000/mm3 at least once, and 17 (10 percent) patients had platelet counts less than 50,000/mm3. Several factors were associated with thrombocytopenia; however, only sepsis, use of antineoplastic chemotherapy, elevated creatinine level, or elevated bilirubin value were independent risk factors for severe thrombocytopenia. In only one patient were the bone marrow findings different from those expected by the clinical presentation. Thrombocytopenia was associated with longer hospital stay (p < 0.001) and higher mortality (p < 0.001).

Thrombocytopenia is a common occurrence in the ICU, usually due to the underlying disease, and is associated with an increased mortality.