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. 2022 Apr;101(4):749-754.
doi: 10.1007/s00277-021-04750-2. Epub 2022 Jan 31.

Health-related quality of life profile of patients with immune thrombocytopenia in the real life is impaired by splenectomy

Giovanni Caocci #  1 , Fabio Efficace #  2 , Olga Mulas  3 , Francesco Cottone  2 , Alessia Maxia  3 , Alessandro Costa  3 , Maria Pina Simula  3 , Emilio Usala  3 , Giorgio La Nasa  3
Affiliations

Health-related quality of life profile of patients with immune thrombocytopenia in the real life is impaired by splenectomy

Giovanni Caocci et al. Ann Hematol. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

The impact of splenectomy on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) remains scarcely explored. Therefore, we evaluated HRQoL with the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) in an internal cohort of 69 chronic ITP patients, overall and by type of treatment. Of these patients, 26 patients were splenectomized, while other patients were treated medically with thrombopoietin-receptor agonists (TPO-RAs) or immunosuppressive treatment. We also compared HRQoL of the splenectomized patients (internal cohort) with an external cohort of 63 splenectomized ITP patients and the general population. The median follow-up was 10 years (range 1-20). Splenectomized patients had a worse overall HRQoL profile than those who received medical therapy either with TPO-RAs or other treatments (OT), with clinically meaningful differences registered in several domains. These included physical functioning (Δ = - 17.0 and Δ = - 15.2, for TPO-Ras and OT, respectively, p = 0.065), role physical (Δ = - 9.7 and Δ = - 13.8, p = 0.483), and bodily pain (Δ = - 14.2 and Δ = - 18.8, p = 0.053). Compared to the general population, both internal and external splenectomized cohorts had an impaired HRQoL profile. Further studies on HRQoL in splenectomized ITP patients are needed to better understand the long-term impact of this surgical procedure.

Keywords: Health-related quality of life; Immune thrombocytopenia; Splenectomy.

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