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PurposeTo investigate the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, investigations and management, and prognosis of patients with Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP).MethodsWe performed a retrospective review of 212 HSP patients under the age of 18 years who were admitted to Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital between 2004 and 2015.ResultsThe mean age of the HSP patients was 6.93 years, and the ratio of boys to girls was 1.23:1. HSP occurred most frequently in the winter (33.0%) and least frequently in the summer (11.3%). Palpable purpura spots were found in 208 patients (98.1%), and gastrointestinal (GI) and joint symptoms were observed in 159 (75.0%) and 148 (69.8%) patients, respectively. There were 57 patients (26.9%) with renal involvement and 10 patients (4.7%) with nephrotic syndrome. The incidence of renal involvement and nephrotic syndrome was significantly higher in patients with severe GI symptoms and in those over 7 years old. The majority of patients (88.7%) were treated with steroids. There was no significant difference in the incidence of renal involvement or nephrotic syndrome among patients receiving different doses of steroids.ConclusionIn this study, the epidemiologic features of HSP in children were similar to those described in previous studies, but GI and joint symptoms manifested more frequently. It is essential to carefully monitor renal involvement and progression to chronic renal disease in patients ≥7 years old and in patients affected by severe GI symptoms. It can be assumed that there is no direct association between early doses of steroids and prognosis.

Objectives: This study aims to develop a new prognostic score based on changes in serial laboratory data from patients with pediatric acute liver failure (PALF). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data on 146 patients with PALF at the Seoul National University Children Hospital (SNUCH) and the Asan Medical Center (AMC). Daily morning laboratory records were obtained for up to 7 days after diagnosis of PALF: total bilirubin (TB) (mg/dL), international normalized ratio for prothrombin time (INR) at enrolment; peak TB, peak INR, peak ammonia (μmol/L); the difference between the peak TB and TB at enrollment (ie, Δpeak TB), the difference between the peak INR and INR at enrollment (ie, Δpeak INR), the maximum change in serial TB (ie, Δdaily TB), the maximum change in serial INR level (ie, Δdaily INR). We assigned nontransplanted patients in SNUCH and AMC to derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. Results: Δpeak TB, Δdaily TB, Δpeak INR, and Δdaily INR were significantly higher in the nonsurvival group. We developed a new score that can predict mortality in nontransplanted patients (derivation cohort n = 42, validation cohort n = 33). PALF-Delta score (PALF-Ds) = [0.232 × Δpeak TB (mg/dL)] + [2.263 × Δdaily INR] + [0.013 × peak ammonia (μmol/L)] − 4.498. The score yielded AUC 0.918 in the derivation cohort (sensitivity 81%, specificity 91%) and AUC 0.947 in the validation cohort (sensitivity 100%, specificity 89%). Conclusion: A prognostic scoring system using the change of TB/INR may be useful for predicting mortality in patients with PALF.