Polycythemia | Symptoms & Causes
What are the symptoms of polycythemia?
Infants and children with polycythemia often have no visible symptoms. When they do appear, the most common symptoms include:
- deep reddish-purple coloring
- poor feeding
- tiredness or fatigue
- shortness of breath or breathing difficulty
- low blood sugar
- headache
- dizziness
- itchiness, especially following a warm bath or shower
- numbness, tingling, burning or weakness in your hands, feet, arms or legs
What causes polycythemia?
Polycythemia may be caused by an increase in a baby’s red cell production due to:
- chronically lowered oxygen levels
- some chromosomal abnormalities
Or it can be the result of extra blood cells entering the baby's circulation due to:
- delay in clamping the umbilical cord after delivery
- twin-twin transfusion
Polycythemia is rare. Some babies may be at increased risk, including those born:
- at high altitudes (greater demand for blood to carry oxygen)
- after 42 weeks gestation
- small for gestational age or with intrauterine growth restriction (poor growth of the baby while in the womb)
- identical twins, who share a placenta and develop twin-twin transfusion symdrome
- to diabetic mothers
- with chromosomal abnormalities, including trisomies 13, 18 and 21 (Down syndrome)