Objective:

To assess mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDW) variations as a clinical marker associated with the development of pre-eclampsia.

Materials and methods:

Correlational study assembled in a prospective cohort of women with a singleton pregnancy, with age ranging between 14 and 40 years of age and no history or presence of systemic vascular disease, who attended at least two prenatal appointments at 13 and 33 weeks of gestation and were later admitted to hospital due to complications at the end of pregnancy, or for delivery in a reference hospital located in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Non-probabilistic convenience sampling was used. Variables measured: social, demographic, clinical, and MPV and PDW in femtolitres (fL). MPV and PDW variations were compared between week 13 and week 33 and between the groups of patients with and without pre-eclampsia using the Wilcoxon signed-ranked test for related samples; the accuracy of these tests for the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia was assessed.

Results:

Overall, 84 pregnant women were assessed. A mean variation of 0.9 fL (SD ± 0.3) was found for mean platelet volume and of 1.7 fL (SD ± 0.28) for platelet distribution width in patients who developed pre-eclampsia. The best diagnostic features were found when using the minimum mean variation values of 0.6 fL and 1.4 fL for MPV and PDW, respectively, with an area under the curve of 0.75, a diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of 12.4, and a sensitivity and specificity of 61% and 88.7%, respectively, for the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia.

Conclusions:

Assessment of MPV and PDW variation between the first and the third trimester of gestation could be a useful method for diagnosing pre-eclampsia, regardless of the value measured in each stage.

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