Evaluation of Clinical Manifestations, Complications, and Disease Course in Children Admitted with Henoch-Schonlein Purpura in Imam Hossain Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, during 2011-2014

Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) is a common childhood systemic vasculitis with clinical characteristics of cutaneous palpable purpura, arthralgia/arthritis, abdominal pain, and renal involvement. The diagnosis of Henoch-Schonlein purpura is usually based upon clinical manifestations of the disease; but, clinical manifestations are different in various countries. We aimed to find the frequency of clinical manifestations of this disease in Iran.
A retrospective study was performed on children discharged with diagnosis of Henoch-Schonlein purpura from Imam Hossain Children's Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, during 2011 to 2014. Symptoms, signs, laboratory data, treatment, and outcomes were collected via reviewing medical charts.
Findings: The sample consisted of 106 children. There was a male predominance with male-to-female ratios of 2.1:1 and the mean age was 5.7 ± 0.5 years. Clinical manifestation of purpura was present in 100%, arthritis/arthralgia in 76%, abdominal pain in 62%, fever in 30%, renal involvement in 29%, gastrointestinal tract bleeding (GIB) in 22%, scrotal edema in 11%, and intussusception in 1.8% of the cases. The most frequent laboratory abnormalities consisted of high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in 100%, and C-reactive protein (CRP) in 58 % of the cases.
Our findings indicate that there are higher incidences of abdominal pain, gastrointestinal tract bleeding, and intussusception in our sample compared to other studies.