Vitamin D supplementation improves treatment response in children with chronic immune thrombocytopenia

The study showed sufficient vitamin D was tied to less disease severity and better treatment response.

Primary immune thrombocytopenia is an autoimmune disorder characterized by isolated thrombocytopenia without other conditions. It occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys healthy platelets. A person with ITP is more likely to bruise or bleed. Thrombocytopenia implies low platelets, a type of blood cell that helps with blood clotting. This happens when someone has another autoimmune disease, a viral infection, or certain cancers. It can also occur due to certain medications. ITP can develop in patients of all ages but is most common in children and older adults.

Vitamin D (VD) has been demonstrated to modulate the immune system, and its deficiency is associated with many immunological disorders. Vitamin D supplementation in immune thrombocytopenia has shown promising results.

Against the above background, Suzy Abd El Mabood, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt, and colleagues aimed to evaluate the values of vitamin D in children with persistent and chronic ITP and the effects of its deficiency on treatment response and disease severity.

For this purpose, the researchers conducted a case-control study comprising 50 persistent and chronic ITP patients and 50 healthy controls. ELISA technique was deployed to determine 25 OH vitamin D levels.

The study revealed the following findings:

• VD median value was remarkably higher among the control group than the patients' group (28 versus 21.5).
• A severe deficiency was detected remarkably more among the patients' group than in the control group (24% vs 6%), respectively.
• Forty-four percent of complete responders belong to the sufficient VD category ((15/34) ~ 44%), representing all patients with sufficient VD status (n = 15).
• A positive correlation was observed between serum vitamin D and mean PLT count (r = 0.316).

"Our findings show that sufficient vitamin D may lead to better treatment response and less disease severity," the researchers wrote. "Vitamin D supplementation may be a new treatment option for children with chronic ITP."

Reference:

Mabrouk, R.E., Hussein, D.T., Abbas, M.E.E.R. et al. Sufficient vitamin D is favorable for children with persistent and chronic immune thrombocytopenia. Ann Hematol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-023-05210-9