MEAN PLATELET VOLUME CAN BE USED AS A HOSPITALIZATION CRITERIA IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH ACUTE BRONCHIOLITIS

Introduction: Acute bronchiolitis is a disease generally seen in children tinder the age of 2 years and progressing with pronounced wheezing, cough, tachypnea and prolonged expirium resulting from inflammation of the bronchioles frequently caused by viral infection. Mean platelet volume (MPV) is a marker of platelet activation and function. Method: 204 children were included in this study in three ,groups; healthy children aged 3 - 48 months (control, group, Group 2), patients diagnosed with acute bronchiolitis in our clinic and then hospitalized (severe cases, group 1b) and patients diagnosed but not hospitalized (mild cases, Group 1a). Patients with a history of asthma, chronic disease or congenital anomaly were excluded. The clinical severity of acute bronchiolitis and the relations with WBC, CRP and MPV were compared between the groups. Results: Mean MPV values were 7.4 +/- 1.5 fL (4.6-10.3) in Group 2; 7.8 +/- 0.7 fL (6.5-10.1) in Group la and 8.3 +/- 1.0 fL (6.311.2) in Group 1b.While no difference was observed in terms of MPV between Group 2 and Group 1a(p=0.23), a significant difference was determined between Group 2 and Group 1b (<0.001). Discussion: MPV values in our study differed only in the severe patient group. In addition, no difference was observed between the mild and severe case groups in terms of other parameters apart from MPV. This finding shows that MPV values are correlated with severity of disease, that they rise significantly in moderate-severe cases and that they can therefore be used as a finding to assist clinicians in assessing the severity of the disease.