Autoimmune hemolytic anemia in children: Clinical profile and outcomes

Abstract

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia is a rare disorder with varied presentations. A primary physician could misdiagnose this condition for other simpler causes of anemia, if not aware of the spectrum of the signs and symptoms of this disease. This may lead to further worsening of the patient, due to delay in starting of the therapy with immunosuppresants. Hasty blood transfusion could cause exacerbation of hemolysis. Both IgG and IgM antibodies could cause this disease, and they are termed as warm and cold antibody hemolytic anemia, respectively. Monitoring and follow-up of patients are also very necessary along with careful tapering of the medications. Evolution of other autoimmune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus is also noticed in such children. There is a paucity of literature about this disease, especially from the developing world. In this study, we have shown the clinical profile of 21 children with autoimmune hemolytic anemia, with the treatment given and the response. An attempt to compare our data with the available data from various studies has also been made so that a primary care physician could easily identify the most common symptoms and signs of this disease and treat such children.

Keywords

• autoimmune hemolytic anemia
• cold antibodies
• evan's syndrome
• warm antibodies