Factors Affecting Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia: A Case Series Study

Abstract

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a condition that can affect patients who are exposed to heparin across a variety of disease states. A case series study was conducted to evaluate the effect of patient age, unfractionated heparin dose and nadir platelet count on the 4T score in a multiple regression analysis. The number of cases selected was ten. The regression analysis showed that patient age and nadir platelet count were statistically significant (P<.05) and the R-squared value was 0.7. A Pearson correlation coefficient analysis also revealed a low positive correlation between heparin dose and platelet count (r = 0.3). These findings add to the body of knowledge encompassing unfractionated heparin which remains a widely used anticoagulant for patients with thrombotic disease and other conditions and procedures. Future studies should continue to evaluate factors that affect HIT including outcomes between Type I and Type II HIT.