CORRELATION BETWEEN NEONATAL THROMBOCYTOPENIA AND MATERNAL FACTORS

Abstract

Maternal illnesses can influence neonatal platelet numbers, but their independent association with the severity of thrombocytopenia within the public-sector SNCUs is questionable. Prospective observational study of 250 thrombocytopenic neonates (<150×10⁹/L) admitted to a teaching-hospital SNCU in Rajasthan, India. Admission severity was graded as mild (100–149×10⁹/L), moderate (50–99×10⁹/L), or severe (<50×10⁹/L). Maternal factors noted were anaemia, pregnancy-induced hypertension/eclampsia, prolonged rupture of membranes (PROM ≥18 h), gestational diabetes (GDM), and oligohydramnios. Early complications were bleeding, assisted ventilation, overall clinical course, platelet transfusion, and in-hospital mortality. Adjusted models of maternal factors for severity were not done. Result of 250 infants, 59.2% were male; 72.8% were admitted within 72 h of life; mean birthweight 2.20 ± 0.56 kg; mean admission platelets 120 ± 33×10⁹/L. Maternal factors in cases were: anaemia 29.6%, eclampsia 15.6%, pregnancy-induced hypertension 9.6%, PROM 6.4%, GDM 6.0%, and oligohydramnios 4.8%. Thrombocytopenia severity distribution was: mild 68.0%, moderate 20.8%, severe 11.2%; mortality 13.2%. Lower platelet groups were correlated with increased bleeding, increased ventilation requirement, a complex clinical course, and increased transfusion utilization. In this cohort of SNCU, maternal anaemia and hypertension disorders were prevalent in the presence of thrombocytopenia in neonates, and increased severity on admission forecasted adverse short-term outcomes. The dataset did not estimate the independent correlation between maternal predictors and severity. Further modelling will be needed to deal with the said title, or the title must be redesigned to indicate a descriptive profile rather than hypothesized correlations.