Relationships among bleeding severity, health-related quality of life, and platelet count in children with immune thrombocytopenic purpura

Important outcomes for children with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) include health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and bleeding severity. A HRQOL instrument for children with ITP, the Kids' ITP Tools (KIT), was recently validated. Secondary analysis of the KIT database was performed to determine relationships among platelet count, bleeding severity and HRQOL. Bleeding severity grade correlated with platelet count in chronic ITP but not in acute ITP. Platelet count and bleeding severity failed to have any statistically significant correlations with the KIT scores. These findings suggest that relationships among outcome measures in children with ITP, using currently available instruments, remain poorly defined. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2009;53:652–654. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.