Prevalence of gestational thrombocytopenia among selected group of pregnant women attended to soba university hospital, Sudan, July-September 2016

INTRODUCTON Thrombocytopenia is a condition in which you have a low blood platelet count. Platelets (thrombocytes) are colorless blood cells that help blood clot. Platelets stop bleeding by clumping and forming plugs in blood vessel injuries. Thrombocytopenia often occurs as a result of a separate disorder, such as leukemia or an immune system problem. Or it can be a side effect of taking certain medications. It affects both children and adults. ABSTRACT Background: Gestational thrombocytopenia, also known as incidental thrombocytopenia of pregnancy, is the commonest cause of thrombocytopenia in pregnancy occurring in approximately 75% of cases, it occurs in the middle of the second trimester and the third trimester and is not associated with maternal bleeding. Rationale: Gestational thrombocytopenia may lead to severe complications for both pregnant lady and her fetus. Objectives: To know the prevalence of gestational thrombocytopenia among selected group of pregnant ladies. Materials and methods: Descriptive cross sectional study, blood specimen was collected from 100 pregnant ladies and examined by full automated haematological analyzer. Result: There is no reported case of gestational thrombocytopenia among all pregnant ladies involved in the study (0%). Discussion: Globally gestational thrombocytopenia is considered when platelets count is below 116.000cell/μl of blood, no one of participants down to this number then the percentage of gestational thrombocytopenia among the study group (0%) is lower than the normal reference range of gestational thrombocytopenia (7-8%). Conclusion: There is no gestational thrombocytopenia among the pregnant ladies involved in the study. Recommendation: Further studies should be done involving pregnant ladies from different racial group to know the effect of race on the number of platelets during pregnancy.