Neonatal Thrombocytopenia at Dakar Principal Hospital

Neonatal thrombocytopenia accounts for 20% of neonates hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at DPH. The etiologies are multiple, but bacterial infection is the third leading cause of neonatal mortality worldwide. We therefore set out to assess the frequency of neonatal thrombocytopenia associated or not with bacterial infection in the NICU. We conducted a retrospective and prospective study with the DPH NICU, over 10 months (August 2018 and April 2019). Thrombocytopenia encountered in the NICUs, were the subject of research into bacteriological, inflammatory, and epidemiological parameters using Inlog laboratory data processing software. During this period, 1280 babies were hospitalized, 94 of whom underwent thrombocytopenia, corresponding to 7.34%, with a sex ratio of 0.92. The number of babies presenting with thrombocytopenia during the first week of hospitalization was 72, accounting for 76.6%. The clinical context was usually low birth weight in 30.8% of cases and perinatal asphyxia (25%). Thrombocytopenia ranged from 2000 to 137,000 with an average of 69,520/mm3. Among these thrombocytopenias, 64 cases (68%) were below 100,000 mm3 and 44 cases had a CRP >5 mg/l. A total of 30 bacteria were isolated, including 23 Enterobacteria, 2 Streptococci, and 1 Acinetobacter. Among these enterobacteria, 14 were multidrug-resistant (MDR). Thrombocytopenia associated with a multidrug-resistant bacterial infection is a real challenging management.