Role of platelet count and mean platelet volume and red cell distribution width in the prediction of preeclampsia in early pregnancy

Introduction: Mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet count (PC), and red cell distribution width (RDW) are various blood indices that play important role in preeclampsia. This study aimed to evaluate the role of MPV, RDW, and PC for the prediction of preeclampsia in the early second trimester of pregnancy and to observe its correlation with disease severity. Material and Methods: A prospective case-control study was conducted for 1 year in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. A total of 543 healthy pregnant women were recruited, after obtaining informed consent and ethical clearance and followed till 6 weeks postpartum, 43 were lost to follow-up. Out of 500 women, nonsevere preeclampsia (NSPE) occurred in 16 women and severe preeclampsia (SPE) in 34 women. Around 51 healthy normotensive pregnant women were recruited after systematic randomization from the same cohort, who had not developed the disease, served as controls. NSPE and SPE were defined as per ACOG 2013b guideline. MPV, RDW, and PC were measured two times by the Siemens Advia analyzer; the first samples were withdrawn at the time of enrolment and the next sample was taken after the development of the disease, and both samples were analyzed. Results: MPV was increased with the severity of preeclampsia, diagnostic accuracy was 69.4%, at a cutoff value of >= 9.05 fl and MPV discriminated controls and NSPE with 50.0% sensitivity and 82.4% specificity. To discriminate between controls and SPE, diagnostic accuracy was 74.6% at a cutoff value of >= 9.05 fl, with a sensitivity of 50%. For control versus SPE, MPCs at the cutoff value of >= 2.085 lac/mm3 had sensitivity 52.9% and specificity 66.7%, and diagnostic accuracy 61.2%. For RDW NSPE, at a cutoff value of >= 11.5%, it discriminated against controls and NSPE with 85.3% sensitivity and 49.0% specificity. Conclusion: NSPE, MPV, RDW, and PCs had good discriminatory value with the severity of the disease.