The Prevalence and Risk Factors of Thrombocytopenia After Living-Related Renal Transplantation in Chinese Adult Recipients

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of and risk factors for thrombocytopenia during the first year after living-related renal transplantation of Chinese patients. METHODS: This retrospective study was performed in 274 adult kidney transplant recipients between January 2009 and December 2010. We followed each for ≥ 1 year. Posttransplant thrombocytopenia (PTT) was defined as a platelet (PLT) count ≤ 100 × 10(9)/mL at any time after transplantation; a severe case was considered to be <50 × 10(9)/mL. Possible risk factors for PTT were analyzed using univariate methods with key factors determined by multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of PTT was high (33.9%) during the first year, but severe PTT occured only among 4.0% of patients. The lowest PLT often happened in the first 3 months after the operation. Key risk factors associated with PTT were induction therapy (odds ratio [OR], 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-4.1; P = .005) and infection (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.3-3.8; P = .004) upon multivariate analysis. Severe PTT correlated with induction therapy (OR, 9.9; 95% CI, 1.7-56.2; P = .010) and acute rejection episodes (OR, 7.8; 95% CI, 1.4-42.4; P = .018). CONCLUSIONS: PTT was quite prevalent in the first year after renal transplantation. Most recipients showed the lowest PLT count in the first 3 months. However, severe cases, which correlated with induction therapy and acute rejection episodes, were rare.