Some elderly people are told that their platelet count is reduced when they have a routine physical examination, or when they have their blood drawn for a peripheral blood count due to other illnesses. Sometimes when you go to the hospital because of bleeding spots on the skin, or recurrent gum bleeding or nose bleeding, your doctor will recommend a peripheral blood count and a reduced platelet count is found. Thrombocytopenia in the elderly usually has an insidious onset and mild symptoms, which can easily be overlooked. It mainly manifests as pinpoint bleeding spots on the skin, mostly in the lower extremities, and can also present with bleeding from the nose, gums, and oral mucosa. Severe thrombocytopenia may lead to conjunctival hemorrhage, oral blood blisters, large skin petechiae and hematomas, gastrointestinal and urinary tract bleeding, and even life-threatening brain hemorrhage. If you notice thrombocytopenia or signs of bleeding in your body, you should visit a hematologist. The doctor will first perform a blood smear to rule out pseudo-thrombocytopenia, and in patients with a significant bleeding tendency, screening for coagulation is also required to exclude other conditions that may cause bleeding. If it is clear that thrombocytopenia is the cause, three aspects need to be looked for. 1,, reduced platelet production: certain factors such as drugs, chemicals, malignant tumors, infections and ionizing radiation damage the bone marrow hematopoietic function, or with the age of bone marrow failure diseases, such as myelodysplastic syndrome, aplastic anemia and leukemia, etc. 2, excessive platelet destruction: mainly immune thrombocytopenia, due to the body’s immune dysfunction, the production of antibodies against their own platelets, resulting in excessive platelet destruction; non-immune platelet destruction such as diffuse intravascular coagulation, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is generally critical and relatively rare. 3, hypersplenism leads to excessive platelet destruction by stagnation in the spleen. Among the above causes, the most common thrombocytopenia in the elderly is immune thrombocytopenia, and doctors need to further consider whether it is idiopathic or secondary immune thrombocytopenia, the latter is caused by the presence of pharmacological factors, combined viral infections, autoimmune diseases (such as dry syndrome, antiphospholipid syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus) or malignant tumors (especially lymphoproliferative diseases). Immune thrombocytopenia. There are no special dietary contraindications for patients with thrombocytopenia, but it is important to avoid hard foods that can damage the mucosa of the digestive tract and cause bleeding. Avoid trauma, collisions and vigorous physical activity. Severe thrombocytopenia requires bed rest, a soft diet, and keeping the bowels open and avoiding straining to remove stools. Viral infection is an important factor in the occurrence of secondary immune thrombocytopenia, so you need to actively prevent and control viral infection, eat a balanced diet, strengthen physical exercise, and enhance your resistance to disease. Taking some drugs or unqualified health care products in daily life may also cause secondary thrombocytopenia, so you should use the drugs reasonably, strictly control the drugs that are harmful to the hematopoietic system, and check the changes of blood picture regularly during the process of using the drugs.