Background ITP Varies in Incidence Between Age, Gender in Pediatric and Adult Populations, Study Shows
Research shows an interaction between age and sex with the incidence of background immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), suggesting that patterns of disease burden differ among children, teenagers, and the adult population. The data were presented at the 51st Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology in New Orleans.
Background immune thrombocytopenia is an autoimmune condition characterized by low blood platelet counts. It has been reported that the epidemiology of ITP in the pediatric population (<18 years) is different from that in adults. In this new study, British and American researchers assessed the incidence of ITP in the pediatric population as compared with the adult population in a large UK-based primary care database –- the General Practice Research Database (GPRD).
The researchers identified all patients with a first-time diagnosis of ITP recorded in the GPRD during the period 1990-2005. Age- and sex-specific incidences were estimated as the number of patients with a first-time recorded diagnosis of ITP divided by the person-time contributed by all subjects in the database who did not have a diagnosis of ITP.
Of the total of 1146 incident cases of ITP among 29.2 million person-years (PY) of observation during the study period, the researchers noted 257 incident cases of pediatric ITP (<18 years) in 6.1 million PY, of whom 197 were children (<10 years) and 60 were teenagers (10 – 17 years) at diagnosis. The age-specific incidence estimate for ITP in children was 5.7 per 100,000 PY (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.0 to 6.6 per 100,000 PY), with a statistically significantly 60% higher incidence in boys compared to girls. By contrast, among teenagers the overall incidence was 2.2 (95% CI, 1.7 to 2.9) per 100,000 PY with a suggestion of a 50% higher incidence rate in girls compared to boys. The overall incidence in the adult population was 3.8 (95% CI, 3.6 – 4.1) per 100,000 PY, with women having a statistically significantly 48% higher incidence compared to men.
As noted, the results showed an interaction between age and sex with ITP incidence. Further investigation into these differences, including comorbidities and treatment practices is warranted.