Demographic, epidemiologic and clinical analyses of the children hospitalized with Henoch-Schonlein Purpura: A retrospective study

INTRODUCTION: Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) is a common systemic vasculitis of the childhood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical, epidemiological and laboratory findings of 117 children with HSP.
METHODS: The medical records of 117 children with HSP were reviewed retrospectively. Clinical findings were purpura, abdominal pain, and arthralgia; laboratory findings were increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, decreased serum C3 levels, leukocytosis, blood in the stool, hematuria, and proteinuria.
RESULTS: Among the 117 patients enrolled in the study, 68 were males (58.1%) and 49 were females (41.9 %). The median age was 85 [49] months. Ninety-eight (97.9%) patients had purpuric skin lesions,71 (60.6%) had arthritis/arthralgia, 52 (44,4%) had gastrointestinal involvement and 27 (23%) had renal involvement. The median duration of hospitalization day was 6 [10] days. The most common localization of skin lesions was lower extremities and particularly ankles.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Purpuric skin lesions were the most common symptoms, followed by arthritis/arthralgia, gastrointestinal involvement and renal involvement in our patients. Seasonal distributions, genders and ages of the patients were consistent with the literature. Although clinical findings showed a variation among the patients, almost all patients presented the cardinal features of HSP.