title: Cardiovascular correlates of platelet count and volume in the Framingham Heart Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Platelet count and volume are inexpensive, routinely assayed biomarkers associated with cardiovascular health, but specific relationships among platelet indices, cardiovascular risk factors, and disease warrant further investigation. The purpose of this study was to understand associations among platelet count, volume, and 20 cardiovascular health-related variables in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional analyses were performed on platelet count and volume associations with cardiovascular health indicators in three FHS cohorts (original n = 964, offspring n = 2699, and third generation n = 2419) using multivariate linear regression analysis. Time-to-event analysis was used for cardiovascular disease-related event incidences using Kaplan-Meier plots and Cox proportional hazards regression adjusted for age and sex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results were concordant with the hypothesis that higher platelet counts are associated with less favorable cardiovascular risk profiles, although mean platelet volume associations were weaker. In our analysis, increased platelet count across FHS cohorts was consistently associated with smoking, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, and total cholesterol levels. Some associations with platelet count appeared sex dependent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Significant associations of common blood platelet measurements are observed with sex and cardiovascular risk factors, namely smoking and lipids. Research is warranted to confirm these relationships in other cohorts, evaluate differences by ethnicity, and examine longitudinal effects on disease risk.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Human Genomics Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Framingham, MA; Department of Health Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
authors.forename: Arielle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sloan
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Human Genomics Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Framingham, MA; College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston.
authors.forename: Philimon
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gona
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Human Genomics Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Framingham, MA. Electronic address: johnsonad2@nhlbi.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000378:metabolism*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010976:Platelet Count; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008055:Lipids
keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Cholesterol; Platelet count; Platelet volume; Platelets; Smoking