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Autoimmune cytopenias (ACs; hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia) complicate diverse diseases such as cancer, infections, and lupus. Whether ACs worsen the prognoses of the associated disorders or whether patients with ACs require a different intensity of treatment than those with idiopathic cytopenias is unclear. Two new studies help to clarify these issues.
In the first study, investigators in Spain examined 961 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and found that 70 (7%) had ACs: 49 had hemolytic anemia, 20 had thrombocytopenia, and 1 had both conditions. Patients with AC were more likely than those without AC to have higher absolute lymphocyte counts (P=0.004), shorter lymphocyte doubling time (P=0.01), and more-advanced clin…