Thrombocytopenia in the intensive care unit (ICU) is a complex condition with diverse contributing factors often concurrently present. While associated with worse outcomes [2, 3], the extent to which underlying cause(s), disease severity, or thrombocytopenia itself impacts prognosis is uncertain and likely varies between subpopulations. Although we agree that the aetiology, mechanisms and subsequent management of thrombocytopenia are important, this was not the focus of the PLOT-ICU study, and we did not collect data on presumed or confirmed causes of thrombocytopenia besides underlying comorbid conditions. This would have required a different setup, including a systematic and comprehensive diagnostic workup of patients with thrombocytopenia and a considerably larger sample size.