Effect of severe sepsis on platelet count and their indices.
BACKGROUND
Sepsis is a major disease affecting almost all organs and systems.


OBJECTIVE
To examine platelet count and indices (mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDW)) in severe sepsis.


METHODS
Patients with criteria for sepsis at a first examination by an Infectious Diseases specialist were selected. Consecutive patients who were admitted to the out-patient clinic and who were not diagnosed with any infectious disease were selected as the control group.


RESULTS
A total of 145 patients with sepsis and 143 patients as a control group were included in the study. MPV and PDW were significantly differentbetween sepsis patients and control group (P<0.05). Platelet count in sepsis patients was lower than control group but the difference was not significant. PDW was the unique significantly different parameter between survivors and non-survivors (p=0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Platelet indices are important laboratory findings in the diagnosis of sepsis and severe sepsis. Severe sepsis patients who have greater than 18 % PDW levels have a higher risk of death. Therefore, PDW, which is part of an inexpensive, easily accessible and routinely performed test for almost all patients admitted to health facilities may be used for predicting mortality.
Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Ministry of Health Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital, Sakarya, Turkey.
E
E
Guclu
Y
Y
Durmaz
O
O
Karabay
D000368:Aged; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D063847:Mean Platelet Volume; D008875:Middle Aged; D062072:Patient Acuity; D010976:Platelet Count; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D014421:Turkey
Mean Platelet Volume; Platelet distribution width; Severe sepsis; thrombocyte; thrombocytopenia