Thrombocytopenia and prognosis in intensive care

OBJECTIVETo study the incidence and prognosis of thrombocytopenia in adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients. DESIGNProspective observational cohort study. SETTINGThe medical ICU of a university hospital and the combined medical-surgical ICU of a regional hospital. PATIENTSAll patients consecutively admitted during a 5-month period. INTERVENTIONSPatient surveillance and data collection. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTSThe primary outcome measure was ICU mortality. Data of 329 patients were analyzed. Overall ICU mortality rate was 19.5%. A total of 136 patients (41.3%) had at least one platelet count 150 × 10/L (p < .0005 for all comparisons). Bleeding incidence rose from 4.1% in nonthrombocytopenic patients to 21.4% in patients with minimal platelet counts between 101 × 10/L and 149 × 10/L (p = .0002) and to 52.6% in patients with minimal platelet counts