Influence of low hemoglobin in children with iron deficiency anemia on PFA-100 testing.

BACKGROUND

Iron deficiency anemia may cause platelet aggregation dysfunction. The present study evaluated alterations of primary hemostasis in children with iron deficiency anemia caused by low hemoglobin using the PFA-100 instrument.

METHODS

This study analyzed 65 children between the ages of 2 and 14 with iron deficiency anemia (39 male and 26 female). The diagnosis criteria of IDA involved hemoglobin values below 11 g/dL, hematocrit values below 33%, erythrocyte counts below 3.7 x 10(12)/L, MCV values below 70 fL. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) values below 27 pg, and ferritin levels below 12 ng/mL. Children without bleeding symptoms with blood hemoglobin values > 11g/dL and hematocrit values above 33%, defined in our previous study, were enrolled as the control group for the PFA-100 closure time. The ranges for prolonged C/EPI and C/ADP closure times in our center were > 160 seconds and > 110 seconds, respectively.

RESULTS

There was no significant correlation between hemoglobin values and C/EPI nor with C/ADP values.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found that low hemoglobin values do not play a role in obtaining C/EPI values above 160 seconds and C/ADP values above 110 seconds. We concluded that, patients with low hemoglobin values have no effect on the results of PFA-100, which is the screening test used to diagnose specific disorders such as von Willebrand disease or platelet secretion disorders.