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Evidence summaries

Drug-Induced Thrombocytopenia

Quinidine, gold, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole may be the drugs that most frequently cause thrombocytopenia. Level of evidence: "C"

A systematic review 1 including 515 patient reports was abstracted in DARE. Of the 515 patient case reports, 87 were rated definite, 160 probable, 172 possible, and 96 unlikely. Among the 98 drugs described in these 247 reports, quinidine was mentioned in 38 case reports, gold in 11, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in 10. Both patients who died had quinine-induced thrombocytopenia.

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    References

    • George JN, Raskob GE, Shah SR, Rizvi MA, Hamilton SA, Osborne S, Vondracek T. Drug-induced thrombocytopenia: a systematic review of published case reports. Ann Intern Med 1998 Dec 1;129(11):886-90. [PubMed] [DARE]

Primary/Secondary Keywords