European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ASSESSMENT OF MEAN PLATELET DIAMETER IN PREGNANCY INDUCED HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS VERSUS NORMOTENSIVE PREGNANT PATIENTS

Priyal Shrivastava*, Dr. Deepti Shrivastava and Dr. Harsha Shekhawat

ABSTRACT

Background: Almost 2 – 10% of all pregnancies are affected by hypertensive disorders and together along with hemorrhage and infection they form one member of the deadly triad, that contribute greatly to the maternal morbidity and mortality rates. 20 % of women with pre-eclampsia develop bleeding problems during delivery that present serious risks to the mother and the infant. Platelets play a vital role in coagulation (the blood clotting mechanism), which stops profuse bleeding. Hematological changes occur during preeclampsia in both coagulation and platelet aggregation. These platelet changes are thought to be related to the bleeding problems experienced during delivery. It is believed that platelets may play an early pathogenic role in preeclampsia. So in this study we have assessed mean platelet diameter in pregnancy induced hypertension with normotensive pregnant women and concluded its correlation with the outcome. Methods: Total 100 subjects, 50 control and 50 cases were taken for study. Samples for platelet count were collected and estimation was carried out by the auto-analyzers. The statistical evaluation is done using SPSS version 22 along with Anova and student t-test. Results: there was a significant difference in platelet count in patients with preeclampsia as compared to control group. Mean platelet diameter was significantly increased in cases with preeclampsia. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that PC decreases while mean platelet diameter increases as pregnancy advances, and these changes are more pronounced in preclamptic cases than normotensive pregnancy. These changes predate development of preclampsia by 2 - 8 weeks and are proportional to the progress of this disorder. And hence mean platelet diameter can be utilized as a potential marker for not only prediction of preeclampsia development but also severity of hypertension.

Keywords: Eclampsia, Platelet count, Preeclampsia, Prognostic marker, pregnancy induced hypertension.