Thrombocytopenia in newborns with perinatal asphyxia

Background Neonatal thrombocytopenia is widespread in preterm and term neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care units, with up to one-third of infants demonstrating platelet counts <150 × 109/L. Thrombocytopenia may arise from maternal, placental or fetal/neonatal origins featuring decreased platelet production, increased consumption, or both mechanisms. One of the most common causes of early-onset thrombocytopenia (<72 h of birth) in term neonates is perinatal asphyxia. Thrombocytopenia in hypoxic neonates admitted in NICU is a morbid condition encountered very commonly. Early-onset thrombocytopenia (<72 h) is most commonly associated with fetomaternal conditions complicated by placental insufficiency and/or fetal hypoxia. Chronic intrauterine hypoxia is the most frequent cause of early-onset thrombocytopenia in preterm neonates. Among some studies, Neonates after perinatal asphyxia are at increased risk of thrombocytopenia. But the correlation between perinatal asphyxia and the risk and severity of early-onset thrombocytopenia is not well known. To expand the evidence base for this entity, we performed review article for thrombocytopenia of perinatal asphyxia, but several questions remain unanswered.MethodsData collection were performed by searching in PubMed data base during the period 1994 -2017, using the key word perinatal asphyxia, thrombocytopenia. We review the articles published in medical journals.INCLUSION CRITERIA: original articles with the definition of PA in term newborns; we excluded other types of articles (letters to editor, review.) and experimental models with animals. In a second part, we review 5 epidemiological studies about perinatal asphyxia.Results:There is an significant correlation between rate of perinatal asphyxia and thrombocytopenia at these studies. We found some epidemiological differences between articles.Conclusion: This review gives an insight into the incidance of thrombocytopenia among perinatal asphyxic babies. We found thrombocytopenia to be associated with male gender, prematurity and low birth weight in many studies. Most babies had mild to moderate thrombocytopenia. Mortality was higher in preterm thrombocytopenic babies as compared to term. By the results, we suggest screening for thrombocytopenia in all asphyxiated newborns, as hypoxia can lead to neonatal thrombocytopenia.