Abstract
This study aimed to assess and compare the platelet profiles of normotensive, hypertensive, and preeclamptic pregnant women. Further, to find out if mean platelet volume (MPV) and/or platelet distribution width (PDW) could serve as an indicator of the severity of hypertension and the diagnostic marker of preeclampsia. This is a case-control study, in which we included 300 hypertensive and preeclamptic pregnant females aged between 20 to 40 years. Blood samples were analyzed using the Roche® model at Dow Diagnostic Research and Reference laboratory (DDRRL). Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 23 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. High MPV were observed as 9.57 + 2.6, 10.9 + 5.4 and 12.3 + 34 among control, hypertensive and preeclamptic females. Statistically significant differences were observed between control vs. hypertensive with a p-value of 0.005, and 0.0001 between control vs. preeclampsia. Moreover, PDW mean values were observed as 13.5 + 8.9, 14.2 + 5.6 and 19.2 + 6.4 in control, hypertensive and preeclamptic females and the result was statistically significant (p-value = 0.004). Calculation of plateletcrit (PCT) showed, mean PCT of 0.29 + 3.9, 0.19 + 4.8 in control and hypertensive and 0.12 + 6.7 in preeclamptic group respectively. The study observed no significant difference in between hypertensive and normotensive pregnant females (p-value = 0.05), whereas, there was a significant reduction (p-value = 0.004) in the mean values of PCT in control and preeclamptic females.
