[HIV-associated thrombocytopenia]

Jost, J; Täuber, MG; Lüthy, R; Siegenthaler, W (1988). [HIV-associated thrombocytopenia]. Schweizerische medizinische Wochenschrift, 118(6), pp. 206-12. Basel: B. Schwabe & Co.

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Thrombocytopenia is a relatively frequent hematological complication of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection. The incidence of thrombocytopenia in a cohort of 359 homo- or bisexual men with HIV infection was 3%, while it was 9% in a cohort of 321 HIV positive persons with a history of intravenous drug abuse. We followed 42 thrombocytopenic patients prospectively to study the clinical significance of thrombocytopenia in these patients. Thrombocytopenia was significantly more severe in intravenous drug abusers than in homo- or bisexual men: 52% of the drug abusers had thrombocyte counts below 10,000/mm3, compared with only 9% of the homo- or bisexual men. Symptoms of bleeding, almost always harmless skin or mucosal bleeding, were found in 45% of patients with a history of intravenous drug abuse and in 18% of the homo- or bisexual men. Life-threatening bleeding episodes did not occur during a median observation period of approximately one year. Prednisone was the most commonly used drug in symptomatic thrombocytopenia and had demonstrable effect only while being administered. After medication was stopped the thrombocyte counts usually fell to pretreatment values. Our findings suggest that therapy of HIV-associated thrombocytopenia should be reserved for severely symptomatic patients, particularly since this symptom of HIV infection rarely causes serious complications and we do not know the influence of drugs such as corticosteroids on the progression rate of HIV-infection.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Further Contribution)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute for Infectious Diseases
UniBE Contributor:	Täuber, Martin G.
ISSN:	0036-7672
ISBN:	3363312
Publisher:	B. Schwabe & Co.
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 15:00
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:18
PubMed ID:	3363312
Web of Science ID:	A1988M121900005
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/25813 (FactScience: 61001)