Events
Case Conversation: Sports Participation in Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia
Please join FWGBD for our next journal club on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024, from 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CT, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. MT, 9:00-10:00 a.m. PT), with Drs. Michele Lambert and Meera Chitlur for Case Conversation: Sports Participation in Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia. This will feature Dr. Lambert’s publication, Sports participation in chronic immune thrombocytopenia: Safer than you thought? Following the presentation, there will be a short Q&A with attendees.
Overview:
Pediatric patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) commonly have activity limitations placed to prevent injury, based on guidance for limitations used for hemophilia patients, likely due to the limited clinical data for ITP patients. Given the disagreement among providers regarding what activities a child with ITP should avoid, Dr. Michele Lambert and Dr. Chart Witmer conducted a study to explore the experience of participating in activities among children with ITP.
Overall, this study suggested that organized sports participation, especially in sports that were not high-risk contact, was likely safe for most patients with ITP. All children need to be physically active, and too many restrictions could negatively impact a child’s quality of life. With the understanding that most children with ITP do not have severe bleeding, caregivers need to talk to their children, so they know to report an injury and become comfortable saying when they have not followed guidance about restrictions or gotten hurt. Given the minimal risk associated with sports participation for most sports in the setting of ITP, children with ITP are encouraged to participate in activities that don’t have a high risk for head trauma, including field trips, recess, and gym class.
After this Case Conversation, participants should be able to:
- Describe the current available information about participation safety for sports in children with ITP.
- Discuss the key discussion points for family education around safe play and sports participation.
