Can low-dose intravenous immunoglobulin be an alternative to high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin in the treatment of children with newly diagnosed immune thrombocytopenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is a first-line treatment for children with newly diagnosed immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Higher doses of IVIg are associated with a more insupportable financial burden to pediatric patients' families and may produce more adverse reactions. Whether low-dose IVIg (LD-IVIg) can replace high-dose IVIg (HD-IVIg) has yet to be established. We conducted a comprehensive literature search from the establishment of the database to May 1, 2023, and eventually included 22 RCTs and 3 cohort studies compared different dosages of IVIg. A total of 1989 patients were included, with 991 patients in the LD-IVIg group and 998 patients in the HD-IVIg group. Our results showed no significant differences between the two groups in the effective rate (LD-IVIg 91% vs. HD-IVIg 93%; RR 0.99; 95%CI 0.96-1.02) and the durable remission rate (LD-IVIg 65% vs. HD-IVIg 67%; RR 0.97; 95%CI 0.89-1.07). Similar results were also found in the time of platelet counts (PC) starting to rise (MD 0.01, 95%CI -0.06-0.09), rising to normal (MD 0.16, 95%CI -0.03-0.35), and achieving hemostasis (MD 0.11, 95%CI -0.02-0.23) between the two groups. Subgroup analysis showed the effective rate of 0.6 g/kg was equal to 1 g/kg subgroup (91%) but higher than 0.8 g/kg subgroup (82%), and a combination with glucocorticoid may contribute to effect enhancement (combined with glucocorticoid 91% vs. IVIg alone 86%) whether combined with dexamethasone (92%) or methylprednisolone (91%). Besides, the incidence rate of adverse reactions in the LD-IVIg group (3%) was significantly lower than the HD-IVIg group (6%) (RR 0.61; 95%CI 0.38-0.98). So low-dose IVIg (≤ 1 g/kg) is effective, safe, and economical, which can replace high-dose IVIg (2 g/kg) as an initial treatment. This systematic review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022384604).