The following is a summary of “Clinical significance of thrombocytopenia in patients with septic shock: An observational retrospective study,” published in the March 2023 issue of the Critical Care by Péju et al.

It is unknown whether thrombocytopenia in critically ill patients is a passive indicator of the severity or actively contributes to developing specific problems. Focusing on bleeding, infections, and thrombotic issues acquired in the intensive care unit (ICU), researchers discussed the impact of thrombocytopenia on septic shock. Septic shock patients were studied from 2008 to 2019 in a retrospective single-center study. After seven days, patients with thrombocytopenia were classified as having a severe case (nadir 50 G/L), a mild point (nadir 50-150 G/L), or a relative case (bottom>150 G/L with a 30% drop) based on their baseline values. Mortality and complications from an intensive care unit stay, such as life-threatening bleeding, infections, or clots, were the results.

There were 1,024 participants in the study. The percentage of patients with severe, mild, and relative thrombocytopenia was 33%, 40%, and 9%, respectively. In patients with severe thrombocytopenia, the mortality rate in the intensive care unit was 27%. Patients in the intensive care unit had a 27.5% infection rate, 13.3% hemorrhage rate, and 11.6% thrombotic event rate. Patients with severe, mild, or relative thrombocytopenia had higher rates of bleeding events (20.3%, 15.3%, and 14.4% vs. 3.6% in non-thrombocytopenic, P<0.001), infections (35.2%, 21.9%, and 33.3% vs. 23.1% in non-thrombocytopenic, P< 0.001), and thrombotic events (14.6%, 10.8%, and 17.8% vs. 7. The risk of bleeding was independently linked with only severe thrombocytopenia. ICU mortality and bleeding risk were independently related to severe thrombocytopenia, while infections and clots were not.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883944123000424