An Epidemiology Study of Adult Immune Thrombocytopenia Patients in a Teaching Hospital in Northeastern Malaysia

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) has been comprehensively studied and understood in Western Europe and various Asia-Pacific regions. However, the epidemiological and clinical-laboratory aspects of ITP in Malaysia remain limited and not well documented. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the incidence and clinical parameters of ITP using 20-year retrospective data. Medical records for 205 consecutive adult patients with ITP between January 2000 and December 2022 were analyzed. A p-value of <0.05 is considered statistically significant. The majority were Malays (n=192, 93.7%) and females (n=150, 73.2%), with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2.73. One hundred thirty-two (64.4%) and 73 (35.6%) patients were diagnosed with primary ITP (pITP) and secondary ITP (sITP), respectively. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (n=23, 35.9%), antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) (n=5, 7.8%), and familial thrombocytopenia (n=5, 7.8%) were the top 3 comorbid conditions for ITP. The overall incidence was 1.80/100,000 person-years (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.56-2.07), and the incidences were higher in females than in males with pITP (1.78/100,000 person-years versus 0.70/100,000 person-years) and sITP (0.86/100,000 person-years versus 0.26/100,000 person-years). The median age for patients with pITP was significantly higher than for those with sITP (median: 44 versus 37 years, respectively) (p=0.026). However, there was no statistically significant difference in white blood cell (WBC) counts, hemoglobin (HB) counts, platelet (PLT) counts, absolute neutrophil counts (ANC), or hematocrit (HCT) counts between those with pITP and sITP at the time of diagnosis. The current study provides an overview of ITP epidemiology in northeastern Malaysia. We emphasize the critical need for further additional research, particularly at the state and national levels in the future.