Case Conversation: Sports Participation in Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia

This is a recorded version of the journal club program, Case Conversation: Sports Participation in Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia, that was presented live on October 22nd, 2024.  Please scroll all the way down this page to view the archived program.

Webinar Date: 10/22/2024
Estimated Time to complete: 1 hour
Format: Archived Case Conversation (Journal Club)
Target Audience: 
This activity is designed for healthcare professionals, including hematologists, obstetricians, gynecologists, pediatric/adolescent gynecologists, advanced practice providers, and nurses specializing in the care of women/girls are the primary target audience to ensure optimal comprehensive care.

Faculty:
Michele P. Lambert, MD, MSTR
Perelman School of Medicine,
University of Pennsylvania Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Meera Chitlur, MD
Central Michigan University
Wayne State University

Program Description:
This case conversation will address the following learning objectives:

1. Describe the currently available information about participation safety for sports in children with ITP.
2. Discuss the key discussion points for family education around safe play and sports participation.

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. Char 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:

1. Describe the currently available information about participation safety for sports in children with ITP.
2. Discuss the key discussion points for family education around safe play and sports participation.

This activity is being supported by an educational grant from Sobi, Inc.

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