Anemia and bleeding in thrombocytopenic patients

Abstract

One might not have anticipated that lower hematocrit level is associated with bleeding in patients with hypoproliferative thrombocytopenia as suggested in a secondary analysis by Uhl et al in this issue of Blood.1 However, patients with hematocrit ≤25% were reported to have a fivefold higher risk of grade ≥3 bleeding (odds ratio [OR], 5.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.65-9.79) and a 1.2-fold higher risk of grade ≥2 bleeding (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.03-1.39) compared with patients with hematocrit ≥29%.