The most relevant risk factors for the development of chronic ITP included a gradual mode of onset of symptoms over more than 2 weeks period, initial platelet count >20 x 10(9)/L, and age more than 10 years at presentation.

Health-related quality of life has been recognized as an important pediatric outcome measurement. Kid's ITP Tool was used to measure health-related quality of life of 80 Egyptian children with immune thrombocytopenia and their parents in relation to different disease parameters. A positive correlation between scores of child/proxy reports and parent report was found. Patients with newly diagnosed immune thrombocytopenia had significantly lower scores of both child/proxy reports and parent reports than chronic patients. Longer duration of illness was correlated with higher scores of child/proxy reports. Negative correlations were found between severity of bleeding and both scores of child/proxy reports and parent reports. Platelet count was positively correlated with parent report score. Regression analysis revealed that severity of bleeding had the highest significant impact on parent report score. Improving parents' knowledge about the pathogenesis and course of the disease may improve their quality of life.