Incidence and clinical importance of lupus anticoagulant in children with recurrent upper respiratory tract infection

Abstract

Background: This study aims to understand the incidence and presence of lupus anticoagulant (LA) in children with recurrent upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). Methods: One hundred and sixty-five patients who were admitted to Departments of Pediatrics and Otolaryngology at Ege University Faculty of Medicine during the last 2 years and 120 age-matched healthy children as a control group were enrolled in the study. Results: The presence of LA in serum was positive in 8 (4.8%) cases in the patient group while only 2 (1.6%) cases in the healthy control group (P =.03). Mean age of patients with LA positive was significantly lower than those of negative cases (P =.02). Of the patients, 92 (55.8%) had adenoid hypertrophy. The annual frequency of URTI did not differ significantly between the LA patients and the LA-negative patients (7.5/year and 6.9/year, respectively). None of the patients with LA positive had adenoid hypertrophy (P =.009). Activated partial thromboplastin time was prolonged in 6 (3.6%) of 165 patients. Of these 6 patients, 2 were also LA positive. The presence of LA disappeared in all the 8 patients 2 months after the diagnosis. Lupus anticoagulant was found negative in all patients at the end of the second month. Conclusion: We found that the ratio of the presence of LA is higher in children with recurrent URTI than healthy children. However, the presence of LA does not lead to bleeding and/or thrombosis, and it disappears in a short period of time. © The Author(s) 2011.