Investigation of the relationship between itp and seasonality

Aim: ITP is an acquired disease in which platelets are destroyed by autoantibodies in the circulation and the same antibodies bind to megakaryocytes in the bone marrow and disrupt platelet production. Clinical findings occur when these antibodies destroy both platelet production and platelets. The idea that seasonal changes may be at the origin of autoimmune diseases is a hypothesis that has been the subject of previous studies. Therefore, we aimed to compare the pollen activity and viral infection patterns with the data of newly diagnosed primary ITP patients admitted to our hospital and to determine whether there is a relationship between them. Material and Method: For our study, 437 patients who were followed up with the diagnosis of ITP in the Hematology Unit of Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Medicine Hospital between 2006 and 2022 were retrospectively evaluated. We excluded 281 patients who met the exclusion criteria. The study group consisted of 156 patients whose complete information was available in the hospital automation system and files. Age, gender, season of diagnosis in days/months/years, presence/absence of splenomegaly at the time of diagnosis, WBC, NEU, HGB, PLT values, ANA, hepatitis and HIV serology, initial treatment and response to this treatment, presence of relapse and duration of remission were recorded. The relationship between these parameters and seasons was investigated. These data were transferred to IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows Version 25.0 and statistical analysis was performed. Results: Of the patients included in our study, 100 (64.1%) were female and 56 (35.9%) were male. In total, the number of females was higher than the number of males. However, no significant relationship was found in the distribution of gender according to seasons (p=0.356). In our study, no statistically significant difference was found between sociodemographic and clinical variables, date of diagnosis, date of relapse and seasonal groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: In our epidemiologic and ecologic study, we found that ITP has no seasonal predisposition. We concluded that both ecologic and viral factors may be effective in people with dysregulated immune system. This result is in parallel with the study conducted in the USA. However, prospective studies with a larger number of patients should be conducted on the subject. Keywords: ITP, seasonality, virus-pollen exposure