Prof David Kuter speaks to ecancer about his poster presentation that reports findings from a cross-sectional observational study evaluating fatigue in adults with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and its relationship with clinical and laboratory measures.

Although ITP has traditionally been managed based on platelet counts and bleeding risk, patients frequently report persistent fatigue as a major contributor to reduced quality of life.

Among 97 eligible patients across the United States and United Kingdom, most were receiving active ITP treatment and had stable platelet counts with minimal bleeding activity. Despite this, fatigue burden remained substantial, with a significant proportion of patients reporting reduced FACIT-Fatigue scores and impaired health-related quality of life on the ITP-PAQ.

Strong correlations were observed between fatigue severity and disease-specific quality of life measures, particularly emotional and psychological health domains, but no correlation was found with iron status or other routine laboratory parameters.

Prof Kuter says that these results highlight that fatigue in ITP is not fully explained by haematologic control or bleeding severity, emphasising an unmet clinical need to address the broader symptom burden and quality of life in patients with ITP beyond platelet-focused treatment strategies.